Broken
by AnimeWolfGirl9
Summary: Ellie had expected to wake up to another day of traveling with Joel to the Fireflies; she never expected to figure out that she wasn't the one traveling with him anymore. (AU) (Spoilers)
1. One Messed-Up Dream

Quick note before we start:

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters/places/anything mentioned from the Last of Us or anything else and everything belongs to its respective owners.**

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Chapter 1: One Messed-Up Dream

Joel had pointed out the signs telling them that they were in Salt Lake City, as well as nearing their destination; they could even see the hospital from the congested highway they had been traveling on.

Some part of her was saddened the closer they got to the hospital; she didn't know why the feeling was invading her, maybe some part was worried that after all was said and done, Joel would leave back to Boston. It seemed highly unlikely, considering the plans that they had started to make for after the tests, but some part of her still worried.

_Would Joel choose to stay with the Fireflies?_ She wondered, _it's too risky for Marlene to bring them back to Boston right now, considering the military might be looking for them. That means that if Joel really does leave, then I won't be able to see him for a while._

The part that had worried that Joel would leave had dwindled to nearly nothing, especially after their encounter with the giraffes.

_He suggested to head back to Tommy's, to forget about the whole trip to the Fireflies,_ she had been half-tempted to say "yes", but after everything that had happened; everything that she had done on their journey, she knew it couldn't be for nothing.

After all, transporting her to the Fireflies had been their main goal in the first place, so she couldn't just abandon it, right?

Traversing through the streets and buildings that made a path to the hospital took longer than expected, and an encounter with a larger group of Infected in the underground tunnels had left them with little time left in the day.

Joel had decided that it was getting too dark out to continue for the day, even though they were close to their objective, he didn't want to take any risks. The next obstacle they had to face made him even more determined to wait until morning.

Water was now rushing in front of them in the form of rapids; debris and vehicles making a path towards their destination. Joel had argued that it looked unstable, and he had also reminded her that she couldn't swim.

"Well, now might be the right time to teach me then," she argued, not seeing the issue much.

Sure, they had to be careful, but they were close enough to their destination that they could get to it in the matter of an hour.

"No," Joel stated, shaking his head after seeing the condition of the rapids, "Not in this water."

She gave a frustrated sigh, not sure whether to be happy that they were spending another night together before the test, or annoyed that Joel was somewhat stalling.

Ellie had quickly got into routine, lying down on top of the truck that separated them from the water and using her backpack as a pillow. She knew that Joel would be doing the same a few feet away, and she closed her eyes in contentment.

Ellie usually didn't dream often, and when she did, they were usually something that she had wanted to do in her lifetime, or something that she might possibly be afraid of.

Like her dream about failing to fly a plane, or once she had a dream about an infectious scorpion that might have started the outbreak instead of the Cordyceps fungus. This dream seemed somewhat different though.

She found herself inside of the abandoned mall that she had traveled to a few months back with Riley; the same mall that both of them had got bitten in. She stared around in some amazement and sadness, not sure of what to do.

She thought about trying to wake up from her dream, but that usually didn't work. Then there was the ever constant feeling of something being a dream but you not actually knowing it until you wake up.

_Might as well look around,_ she thought, shaking her head and taking a step forward.

"Are you forgetting someone already?" a voice asked from behind her, making her freeze in her place.

The voice sounded so familiar, bringing with it a feeling of shock and guilt. She turned around, already knowing who she would see.

"Riley?" she asked, almost not believing what she was seeing.

Ellie didn't really believe in the "ghost stories" that some of the other kids at the boarding school would tell. She didn't really believe in spirits that much, but here was her 'dead' friend standing right in front of her.

This was where she started to forget this was all just a dream.

"Who else did you think it would be? Winston?" her friend joked a bit, walking over towards her.

"No, it's just…" she trailed off, not sure of what to say. Riley's bite mark was still present, and she wasn't sure if she was seeing things correctly.

She tentatively rolled up her own right sleeve, seeing the mark of where she had been bitten.

_It's been a lot longer than three weeks now,_ she thought, her gaze returning to her friend as she hid the mark under her sleeve once again.

"We got attacked by Runners. You were gone," she shook her head, still not finding any sense in this, "But now you're here."

Riley seemed to find some amusement in her words; a smirk appeared on her friend's face.

"Good to see you haven't forgotten about anything," her friend stated, "You are right about that."

Ellie shook her head, not believing that Riley was admitting that she was dead.

"Does that mean I'm dead?" she questioned, thinking it could have been possible; she could have rolled into the water and drowned while asleep; a quick and painless death. Riley stopped her thought process.

"No, you're not dead yet," her friend said, starting to walk through the hallways of the mall, "I would have had to smack your traveling partner if so."

_Joel?_ She thought, wondering how Riley knew about him, _Maybe just because of Tommy being with the Fireflies for that short amount of time?_

She decided not to dwell on that; it seemed a bit too confusing.

"How are you here?" she asked, motioning to her surroundings as they walked. Riley looked over at her with an amused smirk.

"We snuck out of the boarding school, remember?" her friend stated, making her shake her head.

"You know what I mean," she retorted, wanting a clear answer that would get rid of the mild headache that was forming.

"Yeah…" Riley trailed off as they passed the arcade, staying silent for a moment, "There's something you need to know."

"And how do you know about Joel anyways?" Ellie asked, not quite paying attention as she stared at the arcade, remembering the conversation they had a few months ago.

_Time really does fly;_ she shook her head, her attention heading back to her friend.

"Let's just say that I know, alright? It would be too complicated to explain to you," Riley answered, making her sigh.

"Shouldn't you just wake me up or something?" she asked, but then realized the wrong message it might have sent to her friend, "Not that I don't like seeing you again, but we have to get to the hospital, and Joel will be mad if I sleep in."

"That's the thing I have to tell you about," Riley interrupted, not answering her question, "Something happened, and now you are no longer with Joel."

Ellie stopped walking; realizing that whatever her friend had just said made no sense whatsoever. She started to laugh a bit, earning an angry look from her friend.

"I'm serious Ellie!" Riley slightly scolded, making her laughing stop. Ellie shook her head, not quite understanding.

"I'm no longer with Joel?" she asked, "The only way that would happen is if I would have died, and you said I wasn't dead."

Riley blew out a frustrated breath while she tried to sort out her confusion.

"No, something happened…" Riley started again, but then shook her head, "He doesn't remember you, and you are no longer traveling with him."

"That's ridiculous!" she retorted, shaking her head in disbelief, "Joel couldn't forget me even if he tried, and we're going to travel again when the tests are done."

Everything Riley was saying was making her even more confused, and a pit of dread settled in her stomach at her friend's serious expression.

"Ellie, you need to listen to me," Riley commanded, and she sighed, finding no other choice, "You have to find a way to fix this."

"Fix what? My dream?" she questioned, getting somewhat annoyed, "This is all just a dream, so it's not real."

She started walking in the opposite direction, wanting to find the exit. She had wanted to see Riley for so long, but she never thought it would turn out like this with her best friend.

_She's making no sense._

"Ellie!" Riley's voice faded, and she opened her eyes.

She lay in the same place for a few moments, feeling somewhat groggy from the sudden break in her sleep. She realized that it was light out, and birds were chirping somewhere in the distance.

Ellie sat up, feeling somewhat confused when she found herself lying inside of an empty drainage pipe in the forest.

_The forest? That can't be right,_ she stood up, wondering where Joel had gone, _we were in a city, last I remember._

"Man, I must have had one messed-up dream," she muttered, glancing at her surroundings.

She shook her head, figuring that Joel was probably out gathering supplies or something. She shouldered her backpack, realizing that it seemed somewhat lighter than the night before.

Setting it down, she realized that she only had her bow and a few arrows attached to the outside of the backpack.

_My pistol's gone,_ she sighed, feeling somewhat annoyed, _Joel might have run out of ammo and needed it, but he should have just woke me up._

She unzipped the largest pocket in the back of the backpack, her eyes widening when she realized what was missing.

"My comics are gone," she whispered, knowing Joel wouldn't have taken those. She looked around where she had woken up, hoping to find them lying around, but not finding a trace.

"If this is a joke Riley, I'm going to-" she started, storming off into the forest to try and find Joel.

She never got to finish her statement however; the sounds of a pistol clicking behind her made her turn around, whipping out her switchblade to defend herself against her attacker. She didn't expect her attacker to be Joel; pointing the pistol at her with no recognition.

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Sorry if this chapter may seem a bit confusing, but I can hopefully explain more next chapter. Anyways, I know I should be working on the prequel to "Survivors", but I have a bit of writer's block on how to finish the first chapter and decided to post this instead (the first chapter for that will also be out soon). This is an alternate universe fanfiction, but I can't explain more into it until next chapter. I had been doing some research and figured out that since hackers got into the God of War: Ascension demo for the Last of Us, Naughty Dog had posted a report saying that Ellie was being removed from the game (obviously we know this is a joke because the game is out and Ellie is still in it). That's all I am going to say for now, but if you have read the article, then you might have a hint at what's coming next. Please tell me how I did in a review!

-AnimeWolfGirl9


	2. This is Reality Now

**Rich-123 (Guest):** Thanks!

**Littletimmy223:** Here's the next chapter!

**AnimeWolfGirl16:** Thanks! The idea is kind of out there, but I'm having a lot of fun planning it.

**rangers123:** Here's the answer! Well… sort of :)

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Chapter 2: This is Reality Now

"Joel?" Ellie's question came out with some fear as she walked towards him a bit, "Where have you been? And why are we in a forest? I thought we were in Salt Lake City."

A guarded expression appeared on Joel's face when she said his name, and his grip on the pistol didn't waver as she walked towards him.

"Have you been following us?" Joel's question made her stop, becoming slightly confused and amused in the process.

"Following you?" she repeated, trying not to laugh, "How could I even follow you? You wake up before me, remember?"

A frown appeared on Joel's face, and Riley's words came back to her:

_"He doesn't remember you, and you are no longer traveling with him."_

"Oh no," she whispered, her eyes widening when she realized Riley might be correct.

"Joel, did you get amnesia or something?" she asked, feeling somewhat desperate, "We're traveling to the Fireflies."

She had hoped her small explanation would jog his memory, or that he was playing some kind of joke, but his serious expression made her hopes fall.

Joel looked like he was about to say something, the harsh look he was giving her was enough torture, but rustling behind him stopped his train of thought.

Ellie pulled out her switchblade, expecting for an Infected or hunter to attack them. What she did not expect, however, was to see a boy walk out of the bushes.

"Hey, why are we-?" the boy had started to ask, but then grew wide-eyed when spotting her, "Is this the friend you were talking about?"

The same shocked expression was on both of their faces, and Ellie felt her confusion rise as she stared at the boy.

The boy had short, reddish-brown hair and emerald eyes; he was wearing a black long-sleeved shirt and blue jeans with dirty old tennis shoes on his feet. A black backpack was on his shoulders.

"No," Joel answered as he glanced back at the kid, and then at her.

"Then where did she come from?" the boy asked, making Ellie wonder the same question about him.

"No idea," Joel answered with a sigh, starting to walk past her, "Never seen her in my life."

She felt sadness spike through her at his statement, and her vision started to blur a bit with tears.

_I'm not going to cry;_ she thought as she shook her head in disbelief, _this isn't real. It's possibly just another dream, or he's messing with me._

The boy started following behind Joel silently, but the look he gave her was enough to draw some anger; sympathy was present in his eyes.

"Wait!" she called to Joel, jogging to catch up to him, "You're just going to leave?"

Joel stopped walking and looked back at her, a somewhat annoyed and angry expression on his face.

"What are you even-?" Joel started to ask, anger present in his voice, but the other kid stopped him.

"I don't think we should just leave her," the boy stated, standing a few inches away from Joel. The scene annoyed her a bit; _she_ was supposed to be the one traveling with Joel, not some stranger.

"Look, I already have to deal with you; we're not going to just-" the boy cut Joel off again, giving him somewhat of a glare.

"I'll only follow all three of those rules if she can come with us," the boy's bold statement made her eyes widen as shock ran through her.

_He's actually able to deny Joel like that?_ The thought made her shake her head, thinking about what the 'rules' could be. She only remembered the three that Joel had given her back at the beginning of their journey:

_"Don't bring up Tess, ever. Don't tell anyone about your condition. You do whatever I say, when I say it."_

Joel was giving the boy a stern look, but after a few moments of a silent conversation, he gave in.

"Fine," he said with a shake of the head, and then turned to her, "You better not slow us down. I won't be waiting if you do."

She followed after Joel, feeling somewhat saddened at the fact that he obviously was having memory issues, and that some other kid had replaced her.

_Is this really what he was like when we first started traveling together?_ She wondered as she shook her head, not remembering, _Is this possibly what others think he's like?_

Both of her ideas were possible, but she didn't like them. She had started to see the caring side of Joel, especially after he had woken up from his coma during winter. It couldn't be possible that he just forgot all that in an instant, could it?

She didn't realize that the boy was walking beside her until he spoke, somewhat startling her.

"My name's Kevin," the boy said, holding out his hand with a smile, "Sorry about Joel. He seems to be grumpy ninety percent of the time. What's your name?"

Ellie didn't know whether the boy was just trying to be nice and introduce himself, or if he was simply bored and wanted someone to talk to.

"Ellie," she stated, not bothering to shake his hand. The boy's hand lowered, signifying the awkwardness that was now felt by both of them. If she had to admit it, the only feeling she felt for the boy was bitterness; he had replaced her by Joel's side, and thus he was a threat.

"I know that I wouldn't want to be stuck outside the quarantine zones alone, especially with all the Infected and military around, so I figured that you wouldn't want to either," Kevin's attempt at starting a conversation was failing, and both of them knew it.

"I don't like most company, so…" she trailed off, reminded of when she had met David a few months ago. She shook her head, ridding herself of the unpleasant memory.

"Where are you guys heading anyways?" her question made more sadness stab her; she normally would be asking Joel where the two of them would be traveling, but now she felt like a stranger.

"Joel apparently has a friend in a nearby town that can help," Kevin started to explain, making something in her head click, "he says the guy can get us a car."

_Bill, _she thought as she stared ahead, _we're going to see Bill. So that means we're right after the capitol building…_

Her eyes widened as a realization dawned on her.

"The capitol building…" she mumbled, her gaze cast towards the forest floor, "Tess…"

Kevin apparently heard her say something; he looked over at her with a curious expression on his face.

"What did you say?" he asked, and she shot him a glare, signifying that she wasn't going to tell him. Thankfully he got the hint and didn't pry.

_This is reality now,_ she thought with a sigh,_ I am no longer traveling with Joel, and instead he is traveling with Kevin._

"Wait, does that mean-?" she started to mumble, staring over at Kevin with curiosity. He seemed to become uncomfortable at the staring, so she decided to try something else.

She lunged for Kevin's right wrist, trying to pull up the sleeve. Kevin jerked away just as she grabbed his wrist, pulling something out from his pocket that flashed silver. She pulled out her switchblade, and time seemed to stand still.

Kevin had a surprised and somewhat nervous look on his face as she stared at him, both of them not moving. He had a retractable hunting knife in his hand, almost comparable to her switchblade.

Their eyes met and, almost by some unspoken agreement, she let go of his wrist and he relaxed. She glanced up ahead to see Joel giving her a wary glance, but he didn't comment as he continued to walk forward.

She put away her switchblade as Kevin put away his hunting knife, both of them now in an unspoken agreement.

"So, how old are you?" Kevin's question came out of nowhere after a few minutes of silence, but she quickly recovered.

"Fourteen," she stated, figuring she should get to know more about who had 'replaced' her, "What about you?"

"Same," he answered, and she could tell that he was now wary because of her 'attack'.

_I probably just ruined something,_ the thought made her frown, but she turned her train of thought to something else when the silence continued to stretch; _Riley said I had to fix this, but how? I really wish I would have listened._

She let out a sigh, wondering how she was going to get out of this mess. Was it possible that she could somehow go back to sleep and find Riley again?

_Not while we're moving though,_ the thought made her somewhat wish it was nighttime, but she knew that she would have to be patient for it to come.

"Here we are," Joel's announcement made both her and Kevin look up, seeing the metal gate that led into Bill's Town.

_And so it begins…_ Ellie thought, following Joel out of the forest and towards the entrance to Bill's Town for a second time.

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This chapter has hopefully cleared a few things up. For those of you that haven't read the article, it said that Ellie was supposed to be replaced by a fourteen year old boy named Kevin, so that is where the inspiration for this fanfiction came from. I remember someone reviewing one of my other fanfictions asking if I would ever right a Last of Us fanfiction from an outsider's point of view on Ellie and Joel, so this is a semi-answer to it, considering Ellie now feels like the outsider and gets to see how Joel seems through outsider's eyes (so if you are the one who asked for that, here is your semi-answer). Next chapter will be Bill's Town, with a bit of a twist (considering I don't believe Kevin was getting chased by Infected in the game, but we'll get to that later :) Please tell me what you thought in a review!

-AnimeWolfGirl9


	3. Déjà vu

**rangers123:** Haha yeah I guess you could think of it that way.

**Exleader75:** Yeah, if you watch the video I could definitely tell that they had fun making it. I found it was a good plot twist for this fanfiction.

**Rich-123 (Guest):** Thanks for the review!

**JustAnotherHuman (Guest): **Thanks!

**Pokefan (Guest):** Here's the next chapter!

**AnimeWolfGirl16:** Yeah, haha poor Kevin. :) No one likes to get chased by Infected.

**barrissandahsokafriendz:** Haha, yep this chapter should definitely be interesting. :)

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Chapter 3: Déjà vu

Ellie followed Joel up to the metal gate leading into Bill's Town, conscious of Kevin's footsteps behind her. Joel's hands rattled the gate, and Ellie looked ahead to see a lock holding it together.

"We aren't getting through there," Kevin commented, staring at the lock on the gate. She nodded, slightly agreeing with them.

_If only Joel had a flamethrower, then things would be a lot easier,_ the thought made her frown, knowing Joel probably didn't have said weapon on him.

"Need to find another way around," Joel's mumble cause her to glance over at him, and she followed again as he started wandering to the left, looking for a way in.

She stopped as little specks of light appeared around her, and a warm feeling of awe filled her when she realized what they were.

"Fireflies," she whispered, remembering the first time she had seen the small flying bugs on their journey together.

"Wow," Kevin's whisper of amazement from a few feet away made her glance over at him, seeing the same look of awe in his eyes.

"Come on," Joel called from ahead, breaking the trance she had been in. She took one last look at the fireflies before climbing over a log and towards Joel's voice; a glanced behind her showed Kevin doing the same.

Ellie somewhat knew what to do; as Joel walked over to a plank leaning against the opposite building, she climbed up onto the roof of another building via air vents next to it.

She watched as the edge of the plank leaned against the wall of the building she was on. She leaned to look over the edge a bit, seeing Joel climbing up to the top of the building.

"Do you need any help?" she asked, somewhat out of instinct. She felt bad that Joel had to do nearly everything, even after she had learned to take care of herself.

"No," Joel's stern reply shocked her a bit, but then she remembered that he was different. He had changed, and she had to find a way to change him back.

"You know, Joel's like that most of the time. I would just let him do what he needs to if I were you," Kevin whispered as Joel walked across the plank; his words ignited some fury within her.

"I know, but you shouldn't just let him do everything by himself," she retorted, hurrying to walk over the plank, "He's only human."

Kevin stayed silent, clearly shocked by her harsh words. The only thing that kept running through her mind was a picture of Joel back at the University, bleeding out from the debris that had run him clean through and, for the first time since she had met him, looking completely vulnerable. Joel was many things, but invincible was not one of them.

"That you Bill?" Joel's question made both of them look at the rising column of smoke in the distance. She tilted her head to the side, not sure if it actually was.

_He came to us, so we have no idea where he was before that,_ any other train of thought that would have come was interrupted by Kevin.

"Let's hope so," he muttered, sounding somewhat exhausted. She wondered if he was upset because she had yelled at him. Some part of her wanted to tell him to get over it, since this world wasn't exactly hospitable, but another part of her felt bad.

"So, where did you live before you met him?" she asked Kevin, motioning her head towards Joel. She figured she might as well try and learn more about her 'replacement'.

"In a quarantine zone in Boston," Kevin answered, his mood lightening a bit, "I lived in a boarding school most of the time, but I sometimes snuck out."

"Snuck out? On your own?" she asked, curious about what he had told her.

_I'm glad I had Riley,_ the thought made her a bit sad inside, but no matter how hard she tried to forget, it was the truth.

"No, I couldn't do that. I wouldn't want to be alone outside of the boarding school. I went with a friend," Kevin sounded almost sad, mirroring how she felt.

"Oh…" she trailed off, knowing the subject was bringing him pain. She glanced at his pocket, a question popping into her head.

"Where did you get your hunting knife?" she asked, pointing at his pocket. He glanced at it, pulling the knife from his pocket.

"I've sort of had it for a long time," he answered, studying the hilt, "I found it at one of the boarding schools and hid it. I figured if the military didn't know, then it wouldn't hurt them. They were already teaching us how to use weapons, so one more would be alright."

She nodded, glancing down at her pocket, where her switchblade was hidden.

_Well, not so hidden anymore,_ she thought, knowing that both Kevin and Joel now knew about her weapon.

"Oh no," Joel's frustrated mumble made their conversation come to an end. She glanced in front of them, seeing a gate.

Kevin walked up to the gate and tried to open it. She looked through to the other side and saw that a pipe was jammed in it, preventing them from getting through.

"Is there a way around?" Kevin asked, and Joel shook his head, looking back towards where they came.

"This is the only way through," Joel mumbled, and Ellie glanced up at the top of the gate, realizing that she would be able to get through.

"Can you try boosting me up?" Kevin beat her to it, and she frowned slightly as she looked at him. Joel shook his head, staring up at the edge where they would be able to get through.

"No, that's not such a good idea," he stated, looking between the top of the gate and to the other side.

"You're too heavy to boost up, and there's no other way," Kevin argued, making her want to laugh.

_Wish I would have said that,_ she thought, feeling a strange sense of déjà vu.

"Hey, what about me?" she asked, walking towards the gate and motioning at it, "I'm lighter than he is, so it would be easier to get up."

Joel let out a frustrated sigh, glancing between her and Kevin.

"I have a better chance of boosting him up than you," Joel stated, making her eyes widen.

"Gender preference," she muttered, glaring at the ground. She heard Kevin stifle a laugh from beside her, making her want to kick him.

_Him and Joel,_ the rest of her thought was interrupted by Joel.

"Fine, come here," he said, putting his hands together and bending down. She smiled as she walked up to him, feeling a sense of normality since the beginning of this strange change of events.

"I'll just get the pipe undone," she said, and he nodded, letting her put her foot in his cupped hands and lifting her up a bit.

"The only reason I was more likely to boost Kevin over the gate was because I know he can defend himself," Joel stated as she grabbed the edge of the top of the gate.

"I have a switchblade; I can take care of myself," she retorted, wanting to laugh at his attempt of defending himself. Another laugh from Kevin down below sounded as she hit the ground, getting the pipe out from the gate.

"There," she said with a sigh as she threw the pipe to the side and opened the gate, "Tada."

"Thanks," Joel nodded as he walked past, and Kevin gave her a smile. She closed the gate behind them, knowing that they probably wouldn't be heading back that way.

"You're welcome," she whispered, not sure if they could hear her. Kevin and Joel were walking down the street already, and she had to jog to catch up to them.

"We can search through these shops, and then move on," Joel informed, and both of them nodded.

They went through several buildings, but the one that brought back the most memories was the Music Shop. Kevin looked around in amazement at the old records while Joel walked to the back rooms to search for supplies. She wandered towards one of the shelves, flipping through the music.

"It's kind of sad that all of this is just sitting around; there's no one to listen to it," she mumbled, remembering the first time she had come here with Joel. She expected him to answer, but knew he couldn't hear her.

"I know what you mean," Kevin's reply startled her a bit, and she saw him reach for a record, "Wonder if we could-?"

"No," Joel seemingly appeared out of nowhere, scaring both of them. Kevin reluctantly put the record back, following Joel out the door. She started to follow, but glanced back at the record and grabbed it, slipping it into her backpack.

_Joel won't know, and I have a bunch of room in my backpack, especially since the comics are no longer there,_ she thought, running to catch up to them.

Joel led them towards an alley, and chills went up her spine when she recognized the distinctive clicking of an Infected. A clicker burst around the corner a moment later, but a loud explosion made her look away.

"What was that?" Kevin asked, his eyes wide as he glanced at the now dead Infected with fear.

"That was one of Bill's traps," Joel stated, making Ellie remember the first time she had encountered one.

"He's really paranoid," she stated, and then lowered her voice, "Let's just hope we don't blow up trying to find him."

Kevin started looking at the ground like it was going to explode; either that or it would open up and swallow him whole. The expression on his face made her laugh.

"You looked like you could have wet yourself," she whispered, as she walked by him, earning a glare.

"Be quiet," Kevin retorted, making her laugh even more. Joel glanced back at them, but didn't say anything.

They rounded a corner, and Joel had to use a ladder to make a path for them. Ellie climbed up it after Joel, seeing a bow leaning against a wall.

_Bill's, most likely,_ she thought as Kevin climbed up behind her.

"I know how to use that," Kevin tried, but Joel gave him a look, tarnishing any other attempts to use a weapon besides their knives.

"I already tried," she whispered, and Kevin shook his head with a slight frown.

They walked over another plank, using it to get across a gap. A clicker was dozing on another rooftop, but Joel got rid of it quickly. She saw Kevin look away as it slumped to the ground, and she felt some sympathy.

She hummed as they continued to traverse over the rooftops, and Joel's voice came from in front of them.

"Now, listen. Bill isn't the most stable of individuals, so I don't want you two to let me do the talking," Joel stated, not leaving it up for debate. She gave a small laugh, knowing what Joel said was true. Kevin looked over at her with a clueless expression on his face.

"Ok," he answered, still looking somewhat confused. She shook her head, resisting the urge to laugh again.

She followed Joel down a ladder, seeing another wire in front of them.

"Just keep your head below that, and you'll be fine," Joel instructed, going first. She nodded, hearing Kevin right behind her.

The only way through was blocked by two more wired explosions, and Joel let out a sigh of annoyance.

"Just perfect," he muttered, veering off into an alleyway off to the left. She followed him, seeing the door into an apartment rattle a bit from something inside.

"You're actually going in there?" Kevin asked in surprise as Joel opened the door. He looked back at the two of them, and she started to follow him through the door.

"I want to see what we can find," Joel stated, and she shook her head.

"You're going to find my body when I die from a heart attack," she muttered, walking up the steps behind him.

Joel picked up a pipe when they got to the top of the stairs, cautiously heading into the next room. The familiar screech of a runner put her on high alert, but it didn't get to them. Joel knocked it out with the pipe, making her shiver a bit.

"See what you can find," Joel instructed, going to search another part of the building. Kevin was searching in the kitchen, and she started to follow him, but stopped when something caught her attention.

Something was written in red on the wall, and when she observed it more closely, she realized it read "Rachel". An arrow was pointing to something on a table, and she picked it up, opening the letter.

Her eyes scanned the page, and she remembered having a conversation with Joel about it the first time.

"Wonder if they ever found each other," Kevin's voice scared her, and she jumped around with her switchblade ready. He started laughing, making her glare at him.

"Be quiet," she stated with a glare, but he started smiling.

"'You looked like you could have wet yourself,'" he mocked, laughing harder when she started to blush in embarrassment. She elbowed him in the ribs, making him cough, which in turn made her laugh.

"Ready to get going?" Joel's voice came from the hallway, and she nodded, following him out of the house.

She saw Joel pick something up, and she realized a moment later that it was a bottle. He walked towards the twin explosion traps, glancing down at the bottle.

"Stay back a bit," he warned, and then threw the bottle at one of the traps. It exploded, starting a chair reaction with the other one until the coast was clear.

"Those things are awesome," she stated with a laugh as she walked through the doorway, staring at the now useless traps.

Joel repeated the process with another trap, and then led them into another building to avoid a dead end.

"We should be getting close now," Joel said, reaching for the doorway that led out into the garage.

A red flag went up in Ellie's head, and she felt like she should remember something.

_But what?_ She wondered, feeling déjà vu all over again.

Joel opened the door, stepping through. He glanced at his foot and Ellie saw something tighten around it. Joel went spinning upside down, and her eyes widened.

_Oh, that was it,_ she thought as she saw Kevin head over towards Joel, freaking out slightly.

"What happened?" he asked, looking somewhat confused as to why Joel was now upside down.

"It's another one of Bill's traps," Joel explained, sounding angry. She glanced around, looking for her objective.

"Where's the-?" she started to ask, but then spotted it, "I got the fridge!"

Joel and Kevin glanced over at her in confusion, but a look of recognition appeared on Joel's face when he saw her climbing the fridge.

"The counterweight," Joel muttered, and then shouted, "Cut the rope. That should bring me down."

She nodded and saw Kevin walk over towards the fridge, standing at the bottom of the fridge with a look of confusion and utter helplessness on his face.

_Now you know how I felt,_ she thought as she started to cut the rope.

"What should I do?" Kevin asked, and she glanced down at him with a smile.

"You can be the distraction," she answered, heading back to cutting the rope.

"The distraction? For what?" Kevin asked, clueless of what was about to happen next.

"The Infected, of course," she answered, and on cue the sounds of the Runners and Clickers sounded from outside.

Ellie got a glimpse of a Runner heading for Kevin before the fridge jolted a bit. Some more Runners were banging on the fridge, making it hard to cut the rope. A few gunshots were heard, and the Runners fell to the ground.

"Thanks," she shouted to Joel, who was reloading his gun.

"Just focus on the rope," he answered, and she realized she heard more clicks from outside.

The fridge suddenly lurched, sending her to the ground. She scrambled to get away from the fridge as it started to fall towards her.

_The second time I nearly get crushed by that thing!_

"You ok?" Kevin walked over towards her, and she nodded, slightly out of breath.

"Yeah, I think so," she answered, but then hurriedly went back to cutting the rope when more Infected were heard, "Cover me while I cut this!"

"I'll try," Kevin's answer didn't reassure her, but she knew that Joel was also a part of this fight as well.

Gunshots and screeches assaulted her hearing as her vision blurred a bit.

"Ellie! How's the rope coming?" Joel's shout brought her back to the situation a bit, and she strained against the rope.

"It's not cutting!" she shouted, trying to rip through the rope with everything she had.

"Please hurry!" Kevin shouted, sprinting past her with a Runner chasing him. If the situation wasn't so dire, she would have laughed.

The rope finally cut, sending Joel harshly to the ground. She started to go over and help him, but looked over to see Kevin wrestling with the Runner that had been chasing him. After a quick evaluation, she figured that Joel had a better chance against the Infected than Kevin did.

She quickly ran up to the Infected, stabbing it with her switchblade. It screamed in pain and turned towards her, which gave Kevin enough time to finish it with his hunting knife. It fell to the ground, and she glanced over at him.

"You're hopeless," she commented, but looked over in surprise when she saw a Runner attacking Joel. Both her and Kevin started to run over to help, but someone else beat them to it, killing the Infected and getting Joel back on his feet.

"Bill," she whispered, recognizing who they were looking for.

"That's Bill?" Kevin asked with a look of disbelief on his face. She laughed, but both of them were startled when more Infected started coming towards them.

They ran after Joel and Bill; the Infected were running right behind them. Ellie remembered the path and ran straight towards the door with Kevin right behind her.

Joel and Bill slammed the door shut, and everything became tense. She hoped that things were going to be different this time, but she was very wrong.

* * *

I was going to make this chapter the whole of Bill's Town, but I figured I would get it out since doing the whole thing would have delayed this chapter by another day. Next chapter is going to be the second part of Bill's Town, and am I the only one who laughed during this chapter? Please tell me any thoughts or ideas in a review!

-AnimeWolfGirl9


	4. Listen to Me

**Olindesong:** Haha maybe, maybe not. We're just going to have to see where this goes. And that probably won't be for a bit, considering Joel has been with Kevin up until now instead of Ellie.

**rangers123:** Yes, she should be. Although, even though she remembers, that doesn't always mean they will listen to her (as proved by this chapter).

**barrissandahsokafriendz:** Yeah, Joel seems a bit grumpier I guess. I just figured that Ellie might see him differently than when they had first started, considering she isn't the one who has traveled with him since the beginning. And yeah, Kevin is a lot of fun to write!

* * *

Chapter 4: Listen to Me

All of them were breathing hard. Kevin was slumped up against a wall, looking somewhat traumatized.

_Let's hope not,_ she thought as she glanced up at him from her seat on the floor. She hadn't been this exhausted the last time, but she just figured it might have been because she had some idea of what was going to happen.

"That was a close one," Kevin muttered, and she agreed with him, nodding her head.

She saw Bill remove his gasmask, still looking as angry as the last time.

_Maybe even more so this time around,_ the thought made her cringe slightly as he walked towards her.

The situation from last time popped into her head; she definitely did not want to be handcuffed to a metal pipe again. The only good thing it had brought was her being able to smack Bill with the pipe, but that had started a lot of bad things as well.

Bill was starting to walk over towards her, and sirens went off in her head. She did not want a repeat of last time.

"Don't…" she started, backing away from him while her hand hovered near her pocket, "Do _not_ touch me."

Joel had said that Bill was paranoid, and she had already gotten to experience that one time, but she figured that ordering him around wasn't another good situation.

Bill still came after her, which resulted in an appearance of her switchblade. She didn't really want to injure him, maybe just stop him from handcuffing her to a pipe. She went for his arm, but got roughly knocked to the ground, her switchblade spinning away from her grasp.

Her head hit the ground, making her vision hazy. She saw Kevin leap onto Bill's back trying to distract him, but Bill pulled Kevin towards the pipe, which resulted in him getting handcuffed to it instead of her.

Her head started buzzing, and she saw Joel get pushed to the ground, Bill checking him over for any signs of infection.

_Of course, just like last time,_ she thought, reaching for her switchblade but failing to get a grasp on it.

Ellie glanced over at the scene, seeing Bill start to walk towards her, still angry.

"Now for you…" she heard him mutter, making her push her right wrist against her side in an attempt to hide her bite mark.

The pipe came out just as Bill reached her, and she saw Kevin slam it as hard as he could into Joel's friend's back. Bill shouted something while Joel got the pipe away from Kevin.

"You ok?" Kevin asked, trying to help her up. She nodded, getting up on her own.

"Yeah, I think so," she muttered, giving Bill a glare.

They both glanced over at Joel and his friend, who were having a heated argument. Kevin glanced back at her as she started to walk towards them, but she stopped when her head started pounding, making her clutch it in her hands.

_"She's coming to. She's going to be alright,"_ a voice inside her head echoed; the pain making her slump against a wall.

Kevin looked a bit startled as he tried to make sure she didn't collapse. She saw Bill point over at them, and Kevin's head whipped towards him with a glare. He glanced over at her to make sure she was alright before heading to stand beside Joel, shouting something at Bill.

The buzzing in her ears was making it difficult to hear anything about their conversation, but she knew that whatever Bill had said made Kevin angry. She didn't really think of Kevin as someone to start a fight, after all, he had proved to be pretty calm since she had met him. That was why, when the scene in front of her suddenly changed, that she was so surprised.

Kevin lunged for Bill again, his hands clenched in anger. Bill grabbed one of Kevin's wrists, sending the boy into a panic. He pulled against the older man's grip, slipping out of his grasp. The force sent Kevin's long sleeve up his arm a bit, making her gasp at what she saw: a bite mark on the bottom of Kevin's wrist.

"He's infected!" Bill shouted, the words sending everyone into a frenzy. Joel quickly got up from where he was, starting to hurry his way over towards Kevin and Bill. She rushed over towards Kevin, standing in front of him when Bill suddenly pulled out a shotgun.

"You're going to have to shoot me to get to him," she stated, pain now coursing through her own mark. Kevin was sitting on the floor behind her, a shocked expression on his face.

"I'd gladly just shoot the both of you," Bill retorted in anger, and she knew he meant it. Joel had said he was paranoid after all.

"Bill, cut it out-" Joel started as he took the shotgun away from his 'friend', "I can explain-"

"He's infected," Bill stated again, this time turning his anger on Joel, "He could be turning within a few hours!"

Ellie glanced back and saw Kevin with a sad expression on his face. She turned around and helped him up, pulling his sleeve over the bite mark.

She led him over to one of the booths, away from where Joel and Bill were settling the problem. Personally, she didn't feel like listening to what would become an explanation; she already knew enough about being immune.

"Well, guess my secret's out of the bag," Kevin murmured, glancing towards Joel and Bill in the opposite corner. She followed his gaze, feeling somewhat bad for him.

_Bill never knew I was immune, or even infected,_ she thought as her gaze turned back to the boy on the opposite side of the table; _that makes this a lot harder for him._

"Yeah, I guess so," was the only thing she could say; how could she make him feel any better? It's not like being immune to a deadly fungus was easy to explain, or live with the burden of it.

"I'm assuming you're wishing you didn't come with us now, considering that I could turn into one of those mushroom heads at any moment," she knew that Kevin was partially joking, considering the whole idea of being immune was not to be turned into an Infected, but she knew it still hurt him.

"It's fine," she answered, "I had a friend that used to think there was a slim possibility of being immune. We used to juggle the idea around sometimes."

Kevin at first looked like he thought she was crazy, but then the reality of her not freaking out that he was infected hit him.

"So, you don't think it's weird?" he questioned cautiously, looking almost as if she would bite him.

"No, not really," the one thing she had really wanted to add was "after all, if you're considered weird, then that makes me weird since I'm immune too." It would have been great to just get the whole idea of secrets out of the way, but she knew it wouldn't go over smoothly.

_Bill would probably have a heart attack if he knew that two 'infected' were in his safe house,_ the thought made her laugh a bit, and she somewhat wished she would be able to see his reaction, but once again, not the best idea.

"Gather anything that you think you might need," Bill's voice stopped any conversation that might have surfaced, and she stood up from the booth.

"Hey," Kevin's voice stopped her and she turned around, seeing him struggling with his words, "uh… thanks."

She gave him a smile before walking along the booths, keeping a lookout for anything that might be important. Kevin was checking in one of the back rooms, and Joel was gathering supplies from the bar area.

She came to one of the booths and stopped, the object on top of the table making her smile when a conversation came back to her.

"Kevin, come look at this!" she grabbed his arm, pulling him over to the table and sitting down on the other side.

"I've seen one of those before," Kevin stated, staring at the chess board on top of the table while sitting down on the other side.

Her excitement quickly vanished when a problem became apparent.

"I just realized that I don't know how to play," she commented, and Kevin shook his head.

"Joel knows how to, but I doubt he would want to take time to teach us," Kevin glanced over at Joel, who hadn't noticed what they were doing yet.

"There should be instructions around here somewhere…" she muttered, getting ready to pick the board up, but was stopped by Bill's voice.

"Don't touch anything!" he shouted, making her turn to glare at him.

"Wasn't thinking about it," she replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes as she looked away. Kevin gave a small laugh, trying to not make Bill mad.

"Come on you two; let's get going," Joel said as he motioned towards the door that Bill was standing in front of.

Both of them got up, walking over to the door and through it when Bill opened it for them to go through.

"Close the door," Bill ordered when Joel had gone through, and then went into explaining, "We're going to make our way to my armory. That's where most of the firepower is held for taking down the Infected. There's a truck in the school around this area, and that's where we'll find your way out."

Ellie felt like she had heard this explanation a thousand times, so she tuned Bill out as they made their way through the neighborhood. Luckily they didn't encounter any Infected along the way; that would have made things worse.

She recognized the hatch that lead to Bill's "armory" as they walked up the flight of stone steps, but she stayed where she was behind Joel. She had learned that Bill was also very protective of what he owned.

"We'll gather our weapons here," Bill informed Joel as they walked through the hatch, and then pointed towards her and Kevin, "You two don't touch anything."

_The standard procedure,_ she thought with a frown, walking down into the church basement.

Kevin was apparently a lot better-behaved than she was; he stood beside her while Joel and Bill talked, either that or he was suppressing his frustration.

Her gaze wandered throughout the room until she found what she was looking for. She walked over to the table piled high with junk and started searching through it. She smiled when she found what she was looking for.

_"Savage Starlight" One comic down, thirteen to go,_ she thought as she grabbed a tape and magazine as well, slipping them into her backpack.

"What are you doing?" Kevin asked as he walked over, glancing over her shoulder at the table of junk.

"Finding something to occupy the time with," she whispered, zipping up her backpack. Kevin's eyes widened when he realized what she meant.

"You're just going to take his stuff?" he asked, sounding somewhat horrified, "I don't like him that much either, but I wouldn't go so far as to-"

Kevin's frantic whisper was cut off by an angry shout from Bill.

"Hey! What did I say when we first got down here?!" he asked angrily, and she turned around to face him, slinging her backpack over her shoulders so it looked like she hadn't been doing anything.

"I was just fixing your pile!" she retorted, stepping away from the table with a frown.

Kevin stayed silent on the matter, looking as if he was battling some inner conscience.

She shook her head as Bill said something to Joel, who then motioned for them to follow a moment later.

They walked up a flight of steps, entering the main section of the church, before exiting through one of the windows and down to the other side of the church.

She braced herself for the impact as her feet met the ground, and glanced back just in time to see Kevin try to do the same. Instead of the desired effect, he got a mouthful of dirt, making her stifle a laugh.

"Be quiet," Kevin muttered bitterly, trying to get the dirt off of his clothes as well.

She looked up ahead and saw Joel sneaking around the corner, putting her senses in high alert as well. She followed, hearing clicks in the distance. She peeked around a corner, seeing clickers stumbling across the terrain, searching out anyone that they could spread the fungus to.

She looked to Joel for direction, but saw him pull something out of his backpack.

_A nail bomb,_ she realized, seeing Joel throw it a few feet away from the Infected.

The clickers screeched as the nail bomb rolled towards them. Not able to see the threat, they walked towards it to investigate. A large explosion sounded a moment later, and she glanced out from behind cover to see the clickers thrown against the wall, sharp scissors embedded into them.

"That's one way to take care of a group," she heard Kevin mumble in awe as he stared at the destruction.

They made their way through the other yards, Joel using the same tactic to take out the clickers; the Runners they encountered were quickly taken care of as well.

The school quickly came into sight, and something clicked in her memory. She stared at the school, going through what they had to do once all of the Infected were taken care of.

"The engine's gone!" she shouted suddenly as they started to walk towards the door of the school. Bill, Joel, and Kevin all looked over at her in either confusion or like she was crazy.

"What?" Kevin asked with a confused expression on his face. She shook her head, remembering the problem they had the first time she had been here.

"Someone took the engine; it isn't in the truck," she explained, "There is a truck in another house beyond the school that has the engine in it."

Kevin still looked like the explanation wasn't helping, Bill looked at her in disbelief, and Joel looked somewhat hesitant, almost as if he wanted to believe her.

_Why won't you listen to me?_ She screamed the thought inside her head.

"I'm not lying," she pleaded, but didn't have any more time to convince them as Infected came pouring against the school's gates, forcing them back towards the window.

Bill was finally able to get it open, and they hurried inside, knowing that they wouldn't be safe for long. Kevin helped her push a shelf in front of the door to stop the Infected as Bill checked the truck. He gave her a disbelieving glance when he realized that she was right.

"It's empty!" Bill shouted, and then realized that the Infected would break into the room at any moment, "We need to get out of here! We should be able to cut through the classrooms to get out."

Joel pulled her and Kevin away from the door and into the hallway, readying his shotgun. Ellie knew she could get to her switchblade in a heartbeat if it was needed, but she wasn't quite sure how she could help if she didn't have a gun.

_Justifying my first argument,_ she thought with a sigh as they ran through the classrooms, the Infected trailing them from the noise.

They cut into the school's gym, barricading the door so the Infected couldn't get through. She spotted the ledge that led to the windows, their way out, and started to walk towards it.

Joel boosted Bill up first, and then Kevin. He was just getting ready to help her up when a booming noise came from the opposite end of the gym. An Infected burst forth from the closed in side-room, making her eyes widen as she realized it was a Bloater.

"What is that?" Kevin asked in alarm as him and Bill started to take cover on the ledge.

"It's a Bloater!" she shouted up to him, and then muttered, "definitely not good."

"Ellie, stay away from it," Joel ordered, making her somewhat shocked.

_Does this Joel actually care?_ She wondered, but started to run away when something came speeding towards them.

She saw Joel get out of the way quickly, but her vision was soon engulfed in spores, making her cough. She ran through the cloud, trying to find her way out.

Something big loomed in front of her, and she fell to the floor in shock as she nearly avoided the Bloater's grasp.

_Not sure how to get out of this one,_ she took out her switchblade, knowing it wouldn't be much help against the heavily armed Bloater.

Fire suddenly exploded around the Bloater, making her scramble to get away from the flames. The Infected let out a scream of pain as the flames caught it on fire, and a gunshot from up on the ledge surprised her slightly.

At first, she thought that Bill actually cared, but on second observation she realized that Kevin had been able to wrestle the shotgun away from Bill and had shot the Bloater.

The Infected was soon reduced to ashes, and she stood panting as she leaned against one of the ledges.

"You alright?" Joel asked as he motioned for her to come over so he could boost her up.

"Aside from nearly getting my face ripped off, getting set on fire, and getting a bullet through my head, I'm pretty good," she mumbled, grabbing onto the ledge as Kevin helped her up to the top.

"That thing was nasty," Kevin stated unexpectedly, making her laugh. She glanced over to see Bill pulling Joel up to the ledge, and they soon jumped through the window.

Ellie had completely forgot about the Infected that were outside of the school; that was until they came screaming around the corner. She started running towards the ladder that was propped up against a fence. Bill went first- _of course to save his own rear end-_ and Joel knocked the ladder down when they were all on the other side.

"We just never get a break, do we?" Kevin asked her as they rushed into a nearby house, making her shake her head in amusement.

Joel and Bill went to inspect one part of the house, and she led Kevin to the garage, where she knew the truck and engine would be waiting.

"You were right," Kevin said in amazement as he peeked under the hood of the truck, seeing the engine. She gave him a smile.

"It's dead, but if we can get it moving, it should recharge the engine," she explained, knowing they could use the same plan as last time. Kevin nodded, looking a bit out of it.

"What's wrong?" she asked as he started to walk towards the door that led into the house. He looked somewhat sad.

"I… need to talk with Joel really quick," Kevin said as he looked back at her before walking into the house. She shook her head, wondering what her friend would need to talk about.

_Then again, I needed to say something about Tess…_ the thought made a wave of sadness wash over her, and she went to sit in the driver's seat of the truck.

"Come see what Ellie found!" Kevin's comment a few minutes later made her come back to reality. Joel and Bill followed Kevin through the door, and Bill went up to inspect the engine, coming to the same conclusion she had told Kevin minutes before.

"He just decided to run off with all my stuff," Bill's comment made her confused, but she decided to let it go.

"What are you thinking?" she asked as Joel came over to stand beside the car. He gave her a glance and took a moment before answering.

"I'm thinking that we push and you drive," he answered, and started to walk away. He stopped, seeming somewhat conflicted about something before turning around to face her. "I just wanted to let you know that you're doing a good job. I personally didn't think you would be doing this well."

Joel's comment made her somewhat surprised, but it made a smile appear on her face nonetheless.

"I won't let you down," she whispered as he walked to the back of the car where Bill was waiting. Kevin gave her a confident smile before walking back towards them. Joel stopped him however.

"Kevin, get in the other seat in case she needs some help," Joel said, motioning with his head towards the front of the car. Kevin gave him a disbelieving glance.

"I can help-" he started to argue, but gave in when Joel gave him a stern look. He frowned, climbing into the seat beside her.

"I could have helped," Kevin muttered, a somewhat bitter expression on his face. She stifled a laugh as she glanced at him.

"You can help me up here," she commented, "In case the car stops working."

"You guys ready?" Joel shouted up towards them and she turned around to give him a thumbs up.

"Now, keep your foot on the clutch until we get the truck out of the garage. Then you're going to need to-" she grew somewhat impatient at Bill trying to explain what to do.

"I know how to pop a clutch!" she shouted, making Kevin laugh a bit from the look on Bill's face.

"How in the world do you-?" Bill started to ask, but shook his head, "Never mind. Just don't mess this up!"

She gave a frustrated sigh, and Kevin stifled another laugh beside her.

"The military teaches the best stuff," he stated, making it somewhat hard for her to concentrate on driving.

They came to the first hill and slid down, not getting enough juice to get the car running.

She heard shouting from behind her and saw Infected starting to come towards them. Joel and Bill were both taking down as many as they could before continuing to push the truck, but it wasn't getting them far.

"We need to get to that hill," Kevin pointed out and she followed his gaze, wondering what they could do to help. Kevin seemed to read her mind and shook his head, "We can't do anything. Joel said to stay in the car to make sure it works."

The first group of Infected was soon taken care of, and they were getting closer to the hill when another group of Infected came at them, this time adding clickers to the problem.

"Can you get the car running?" Kevin asked as Runners started to bang on the car windows, trying to get to them inside.

"It doesn't have enough power yet!" she shouted, trying the gas and realizing it wasn't working.

"Don't you remember anything from-?" Kevin started to ask, but she cut him off.

"They never had classes that taught how to drive a dead truck!"

All but one Runner was taken care of, which was now still banging the glass on her side of the car.

"I have an idea," she stated, and then started to open the door, quickly shutting it so that it hit the Runner to the ground. Joel came up and finished it with a plank, and they were soon making their way up to the hill again.

The truck had just roared to life, sending celebration throughout the car. She let off the gas for a moment, trying to make sure that Joel and Bill could get in the back.

An urgent tapping on the back glass made her look back to see Infected starting to gain distance to the truck, making her slam on the gas pedal. Kevin hit his head off the window when she swerved to the left, quickly losing the Infected.

Ellie knew she had to keep the car running, so she divided her attention between driving and her friend, who was now clutching his aching head.

"Sorry," she muttered, feeling somewhat bad that his injury was her fault.

"It's alright; I've had worse," Kevin mumbled, but she could tell that it had still hurt.

Bill banged on the glass a few miles down the road, making her come to a stop. She glanced back at Joel for directions.

"Just keep it running," he said, and she replied with another thumbs up. Joel and Bill went to the side of the road, saying their goodbyes.

Joel came over a few minutes later, opening the driver's door

"Scoot," he stated, making her move over a bit. She then realized that Kevin was sitting in the passenger's seat, forcing her to move to the back.

_Oh well, at least I can lie down back here,_ she thought, using her backpack as a pillow.

"You two try and get some sleep," Joel stated from his position behind the wheel when they were moving. She nodded, closing her eyes.

_And now time to attend to some serious business…_

* * *

Sorry if this chapter seemed a bit rushed. I assume that most people have either played or watched the part for Bill's Town, so I didn't want to bore you with details that you might already know. I am going to have little to no internet for the next week because I am going on vacation, so I might not update for a bit. I am going to prewrite chapters and hopefully get them out if I do get internet, so still keep an eye out for them. Next chapter is heading to Pittsburgh (also known as "In which Ellie figures out that dreams are not like phones)! Please tell me any thoughts or ideas in a review!

-AnimeWolfGirl9


	5. Dreams Are Like

**rangers123:** Kevin and Joel already have an idea of Ellie telling the truth, since she was correct about the engine, but it is still going to be determined if they actually listen to her. Hope you enjoy your vacation!

** :** Thanks! I am glad you are enjoying it!

**barrissandahsokafriendz:** I assume that Joel and Kevin will start to get suspicious of something in the coming chapters… You'll just need to wait until then to find out :)

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Chapter 5: Dreams Are Like…

Dreams were difficult to understand most of the time.

They were somewhat like illusions, or when someone was on laughing gas. They distorted your basic concept of what was real, and what wasn't. Sometimes dreams were real, but in a different concept, or at least to the person who was having the dream.

Dreams were also connected to your imagination, considering that they could be of something completely impossible, yet seem just fine to the dreamer.

Dreams could be good or bad, pertaining to a memory or fear that was made real to the dreamer. Nightmares were never fun; they always seemed to be more frequent than good dreams. When your fears are brought to light and made real, it was scary. The only relief was when you woke up and realized that the dream wasn't real.

_But what if a dream was real? What if whatever was happening in the dream happened to the person dreaming it? What effects would it have?_

One thing dreams were not like, however, were phones. You couldn't just try and dream what you want to, forcing your imagination to bend to your will. If you wanted someone to be in a dream, you couldn't just force them to. If they were "unavailable" you couldn't just leave a voice message for them to "call back later".

Ellie had figured all of this out in the short span of time she had been asleep, reappearing back inside the abandoned mall with the same feelings.

"Riley!" she shouted, walking through the stores and trying to find her friend.

_Why can't I find her?_ She wondered as she shook her head, _she has to be around here somewhere._

She arrived at a bookstore and started to walk through the aisles of merchandise, some shelves were overturned with books scattering the ground. None of the books were really readable, but she still liked to look. It wasn't like she had anything else to do while waiting for her friend.

After waiting for what seemed like forever, she decided to try something else.

"Riley, I'm sorry about leaving last time. Can we please talk?" she shouted, knowing that her friend was probably laughing at her right then.

Silence still enveloped the space around her, and she sat down on one of the overturned aisles. A frown appeared on her face as she tried to think over what her friend had said last time.

"I have to fix this," she mumbled, feeling lost, "but how?"

"Get rid of the problem," Riley's voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. She stood up suddenly, glancing around frantically as she tried to find her friend.

"But what is the problem?" she asked, not seeing her friend anywhere and feeling confused.

Riley's voice didn't answer, but instead something else happened. She felt herself stir slightly in her sleep, and her eyes cracked open for a moment.

_"The anesthetic should be taking affect in a few minutes,"_ she recognized the voice from back at the safe house, and she saw a man in some sort of blue colored scrubs standing in a corner, talking to someone.

The unknown person looked over at her, and her eyes drifted closed again, making her unable to see what was happening. She felt tired still, and thought that she would have instantly went back to sleep.

She felt a hand brush her forehead lightly; making her aware that she was still awake. Either that or her dreams were more real than she had first thought.

_"Don't worry. This will all be over soon,"_ a feminine voice soothed, sounding very familiar to her, _"Soon she will be with you, Anna."_

Her eyes flew open at the familiar sounding name, and she found herself back in the truck. She lay still for a moment, feeling the slight bumps from potholes in the road, before sitting up.

Kevin had his head slumped against the window; he was obviously taking Joel's advice about getting some sleep. Ellie knew that she would be asleep _if_ her dream hadn't woken her up.

She knew Joel hadn't seen that she was awake yet; he was either lost in his own thoughts or concentrating on driving. She wondered if she should start talking to him, but figured it would be better if she left him alone for a bit.

_Just a few minutes or so,_ she thought, her mind wandering to her dream, _'get rid of the problem'. How can I do that when I don't even know what the problem is?_

She shook her head and, after a few unsuccessful minutes of not finding the answer, decided to start reading. She took out the comic from her backpack, reading until she got to the end.

The words _"To be continued…"_ still bothered her; she had read the next few issues, but never got to see how it ended.

_I'll have to start looking for those again,_ she thought with a sigh, glancing up at her friend, _wonder if Kevin would be interested in helping…_

"Get any sleep?" Joel's question interrupted any further thoughts, and she nodded.

"Some," she answered, wondering if she should tell him about her dreams. After figuring that it would only be a bother if he didn't ask first, she continued, "I kept having strange dreams."

Joel didn't say anything about her comment, which wasn't surprising. Even when he became more open, he never really talked much about her dreams if she didn't start explaining.

_Joel wouldn't like it if I distracted him,_ she thought, an idea coming into her mind.

She glanced over to see Kevin still sleeping and turned around in the back seat, opening her backpack and pulling something out.

"Look at this," she said, handing the tape up to Joel with a smile. His expression grew amused as he stared at the tape, realizing what it was.

"Where did you get something like this?" he asked, glancing back at her as he motioned towards the tape.

"Back at Bill's," she stated, and his eyes grew wide at her comment, "It was just lying there…"

"What else did you find?" he asked, shaking his head in slight disbelief and what she guessed was disappointment.

"Put that in first," she ordered, pointing to the tape with a smile. Joel shook his head in slight confusion.

"Why do you-?" he started asking but trailed off as he put the tape in. Ellie leaned forward and turned the music up, smiling at what was to come.

As soon as the artist of the song started singing, Kevin jolted awake in his seat, hitting his head off the window at his surprise awakening. She started to laugh at his startled look, and he looked back at her with a frown.

"What did you do that for?" he asked, turning the music down to a more comfortable level when he realized what the source of his awakening was. She could see a partial smile on Joel's face as well.

"You slept in," she stated, not able to keep the smile off of her face. Kevin's expression grew confused, and he glanced up at Joel.

"I thought you said that we needed to sleep," her friend commented, and Joel just shrugged.

"I did, but I guess she got bored," Joel's statement made her eyes widen at her slight teasing, and she lightly tapped Kevin's shoulder when he started laughing.

_Now is the perfect moment,_ she thought with another smile as she reached into her backpack.

"Hey Kevin, come look at this," she stated, pulling the magazine out and opening it.

Kevin glanced back at her curiously, not able to see what was on the cover of the magazine.

"What is it?" he asked, crawling over the center console of the truck to get to the back, slipping in beside her.

"Here," she opened the magazine and let him see. Kevin instantly took one look and attempted to close the magazine.

"Why do you even have that?" Kevin asked with a horrified expression on his face. She started laughing as she turned the page.

"It's probably another thing she found back at Bill's," Joel commented as he glanced back. He had to look a second time, and then his face grew somewhat stern, "Ellie, get rid of that."

The look on Joel's face combined with the one on Kevin's made her laugh even harder.

"It's just a magazine," she argued, and Joel shook his head as he went back to focusing on driving.

She continued flipping through the pages, getting somewhat bored. She frowned, not sure of what to do now.

_Maybe I'll just put it back in here,_ she thought as she opened her backpack, getting ready to store it back with all of the random stuff she had.

"No!" Kevin's horrified exclamation made her look over at him and, before she knew it, he had grabbed the magazine out of her hands and was opening the car window.

"What are you doing?" she asked, reaching to wrestle the magazine out of his grasp.

"You already read it, now it's time to say goodbye!" Kevin shouted, throwing the magazine out the car window.

Both of them turned around to watch as the magazine tumbled onto the road and into a puddle behind them. They sat in silence for a few moments, and then she heard the window rolling up.

"That was-" Kevin started to say, but shook his head, not able to finish his sentence.

"I can't believe you actually did that," she commented, wanting to laugh at the disbelieving glance on his face.

"What do you mean by-?" Kevin started to ask, but stopped when she started to pull something else out of her backpack, "If it's another one of those-"

"No it's not," she interrupted him, showing him the _Savage Starlight_ comic she had read earlier, "Look at it."

She waited silently as Kevin read the issue, and his frown at the end made her laugh.

"Why end something off like that?" he asked, looking somewhat disappointed.

"It's a comic series," she explained, "We could find the others."

"Really?" his eyes grew wide with excitement, and he leaned up to ask Joel, "Do you think we could?"

"We'll see," Joel answered, giving a short chuckle at the looks of expectation on their faces.

Ellie didn't know what else to talk about, so she sat in the back seat with Kevin, humming a random tune that had popped into her head. Kevin suddenly had a look of confusion on his face, and she glanced over at him.

"What's that for?" she asked, pointing at his face. He didn't hear her the first time, so she had to repeat herself, "Why are you doing that?"

"I just remembered I had a really strange dream," Kevin answered, looking somewhat confused.

"What was it about?" she asked, thinking back to her own dream as she suddenly became more interested in the conversation.

"It was somewhat weird…" Kevin started but trailed off, collecting his thoughts, "I was in this underground bus station, and there was a lot of water. I fell in, and then woke up."

She gave a small laugh at the end, and he glared over at her.

"What's so funny?" he asked, seeming somewhat offended. She had to wait a moment to stop laughing.

"Well, couldn't you have just gone swimming or something?" she asked, stifling another laugh. Of course, she couldn't swim, but Kevin's dream was kind of strange.

_Seems like he dreamed for about two seconds,_ she thought, wondering how that was even possible.

"No, I can't swim," Kevin's statement somewhat shocked her, and she glanced over at him.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I never got the chance to learn how. Why?"

"Well…" she thought about it for a moment, wondering how much she should reveal, "I can't swim either."

Kevin seemed somewhat shocked at this, but he came to a conclusion a moment later.

"I guess it makes sense considering that's one thing the military didn't teach us, and no one else really could so…"

He trailed off, looking somewhat lost in his thoughts. She decided to see if he had any more dreams he wanted to talk about.

"Was that all there was to the dream?" she asked, finding it somewhat strange.

"No, there was a portion before it," he shook his head, looking somewhat confused, "Weird thing was, Joel was there and we saw this herd of giraffes. There were a bunch of Infected, and after that we came to the rapids…"

She shuddered a bit, feeling another sense of déjà vu as he continued.

"It sort of just skipped something. We started walking across this debris and then I fell in," Kevin didn't say anything else, and they both felt the tension. What he said next was supposed to lighten the mood a bit, "I would have known more, but you woke me up with that music."

They both laughed a bit, and she playfully punched him in the arm. As much as she wanted to just forget about it, Kevin's dream almost sounded like back in Salt Lake City.

_Weird, is it possible that he's already been there before?_ She wondered, glancing over at him. She knew she wouldn't get an answer, but it was somewhat creepy how accurate his description was.

"We should be arriving in Pittsburgh in a few hours," Joel informed them as Kevin climbed back up to the passenger's seat, "You two should try and get some sleep."

Kevin yawned from where he was, and she gave him a small smile. She lied back down to try and head back to sleep, but the word Pittsburgh kept going through her head.

She was on the verge of sleep before remembering something. She opened her eyes slightly, feeling groggy as she fought against her sleep.

"Joel, don't forget about the guy," she muttered before finally giving in to sleep.

* * *

This chapter was essentially the remake of the scene in the truck for the game, except with Kevin in it (which I find more and more amusing to write). Next chapter is Pittsburgh (hopefully the entirety) with more twists in the plotline (and possibly a very big one some of you have been waiting for; we'll see though). Please tell me any thoughts or ideas in a review!

-AnimeWolfGirl9


	6. The Secret's Out

**barrissandahsokafriendz: **Yes, Sam and Henry will be appearing in this chapter. Ellie obviously remembers what happened to her friend, but the question is that will she be able to prevent it?

**rangers123:** Even though Ellie remembers what happens, that doesn't always mean that everything can be avoided (like in chapter 4, not everyone might believe her at first).

**Madalyn1000:** Hope you enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 6: The Secret's Out

Ellie woke up to someone tapping on her shoulder. She opened her eyes, becoming startled when Kevin's face was all she could see. She sat up quickly, smacking his hand away.

"What?" she asked irritably. He seemed somewhat hurt by the tone of her voice, but he quickly forgot about it when he glanced out the window.

"We're here," he answered, and she glanced out of the back window to see the familiar buildings of Pittsburgh, "You seem to like looking at this stuff as much as I do, so I didn't want you to miss it."

"Oh…" she let her voice trail off as she stared at the buildings going by.

Even though she had been in the city on her trip with Joel, it still amazed her when she looked at the buildings. She would try to imagine what they had looked like before the pandemic, but with little success.

She watched as dilapidated shops and houses went pass them, and the car took a side road, since the main road was blocked with cars. She stared at the names of the buildings, finding them somewhat familiar.

_We're in Pittsburgh, so that means…_ her thought trailed off as the truck suddenly halted to a stop, making her nearly run into the back of Kevin's seat.

"What-?" she heard Kevin start to ask as he looked over at Joel, but something stopped his interrogation, "Whoa…"

She leaned up and glanced at the windshield from her seat in the back, seeing a man stumble out from behind a car, calling for help. Her eyes widened as warning bells went off in her mind.

"Should we help him?" Kevin's question made the familiar sense of déjà vu come back, and she glanced around frantically.

"Kevin, put your seatbelt on," Joel stated firmly, and then looked back at her, "You too, Ellie."

"Joel, we need to turn around," she retorted frantically. She didn't know any other way through the city, but the only way they could go was back where they had come…

"You've seen one of these before?" Joel's disbelieving question made her give a quick, nervous laugh.

"Seen one? I've been a part of one," she said with a nervous laugh.

Joel obviously knew that she meant that the hunters had attacked her at one point, but he didn't say anything else as he set his sights on the injured man again.

Kevin seemed to be getting extremely freaked out; he kept glancing between her and Joel.

"Joel, just back up-" she started to say, but he interrupted her.

"There's no other way through the city-" Joel started to argue, but she shook her head.

"We could go around-"

"That's going to take too long-"

"We're not in any hurry to-"

"Joel, I really think we should listen to her," Kevin cut into their argument, looking serious for once, "she was right last time."

Joel blew out a frustrated sigh, and Ellie wondered why the hunters hadn't attacked them yet. You would think that if the people inside the car were arguing about something that the hunters would take advantage of the situation; she guessed that wasn't the case.

"I don't have time for this," Joel muttered, surprising both her and Kevin when he slammed on the gas, headed straight for the injured man.

Frustration coursed through her when she realized that Joel had just started a chain of events that she couldn't stop, putting them in even more trouble.

She didn't have to be reminded about what was going to happen next. Bullets, bricks, and bottles assaulted the truck, and sooner than she would have liked a bus rammed into the side of the truck, sending them crashing into an abandoned store.

Her vision went black for a moment, and intense pain spread from her ankle. She muffled a scream of pain, and instead reached for her backpack with gritted teeth.

"Everyone alright?" Joel's voice came from the front of the car as she saw him grab his backpack.

"I'm fine," Kevin answered, although she could tell he was shaken and breathing hard.

She didn't answer right away, trying to compose herself and ignore the throbbing in her ankle.

"Ellie?" Joel asked, sounding concerned when she didn't answer. He twisted around in his seat and she nodded, feeling somewhat out of breath.

"As well as to be expected in this situation," she answered, somewhat satisfying him.

Everything got thrown into chaos a moment later, making it hard to tell what was going on. Joel and Kevin were forced from the car, and glass started to shatter around her, making her realize someone was shooting bullets into the car to make sure no one else stayed behind. Some part of her had hoped they hadn't seen her; apparently she was wrong.

She reached into her backpack, looking for her pistol. It took a moment, but the answer hit her.

_Joel hasn't given it to me yet,_ she thought with a frown, realizing that everything Joel had given her before everything got crazy was gone, _well, that makes things a lot harder._

She ducked behind the driver's seat, avoiding the gunfire as she tried to figure out what to do. Part of her said to wait it out, but she knew Kevin would need help. Joel would be fine, but Kevin _definitely_ needed help.

She started to slam against the back door, trying to get out. At least if the hunters saw her, then it would be a good distraction.

_I just need to not die in the process of being a distraction,_ she thought, becoming frustrated when the door wouldn't open.

Something heavy slammed against the door just as she was starting to get it open, making it close on her again. She was about to yell something when she heard footsteps outside of the truck door.

"Oops," she recognized Kevin's voice and realized that this was his fault. She would be out of the truck by now if he hadn't slammed something into the door.

She shook her head, feeling somewhat angry. She slammed against the door again, harder this time. It still didn't budge, making her wonder what in the world Kevin had against the door.

_If this is payback for that magazine…_ her thought trailed off as she backed up a bit, getting ready to ram her shoulder into the door for a second time.

The truck door gave way surprisingly easily this time, and she ran into it harder than expected. She landed on the ground, her ankle hitting the seat on the way out; sending tendrils of pain spiking through it.

Ellie glanced up through her slightly blurred vision to see Kevin. Something slumped to the ground and she glanced back near the now-open truck door to see a body hit the ground. She glanced up at Kevin, who had a somewhat saddened look on his face.

"He was coming after you, so…" Kevin's voice trailed off, making her realize what had been slumped against the door.

The rest of the hunters were already taken care of by Joel by the time Kevin had helped her towards a wall. Fire spread through her ankle every time she tried to walk on it, so she had to lean against Kevin to actually get to the wall.

Kevin made sure she wouldn't collapse through the wall before walking through the store to find Joel. She heard their voices a moment later, but they were somewhat obscured.

She leaned her head against the wall, lightly hitting her head against it in frustration. This hadn't happened exactly like last time. Last time she hadn't been hurt, and now they were stuck in Pittsburgh with the only known route being the hotel somewhere else in the city.

"You should have listened to me," she muttered to Joel, her eyes closed to avoid yelling at him.

"Yeah, I can see that now," Joel's statement made her somewhat surprised; he usually didn't admit that he was wrong.

_Maybe it's more like he's suspicious,_ she thought as she opened her eyes, wondering what to do now. They had to get away, considering more hunters would be coming to the ambush point soon, but it didn't seem like her ankle was going to cooperate.

"Do you need any-?" Kevin started to ask, but she cut him off with a shake of the head.

"I just need to rest for a moment," her answer was right, but she figured it would take longer than a few seconds for her ankle to heal.

_"No pain, no gain" right? Whoever said that probably never experienced pain,_ she thought bitterly as she tried putting weight on her injured ankle, wincing and pulling it straight up again a moment later.

Joel seemed to notice she was in pain and walked over towards her, eyeing her ankle. She was silent for a moment, trying to figure out what to do.

"Sit down," Joel stated as he started rummaging through his backpack. She shook her head, not sure if she actually could without damaging herself further.

"Does falling on my butt count?" she asked, maneuvering herself towards the ground while being careful of her ankle. She never actually thought that sitting down would be much of a problem.

Kevin stood by silently, looking as if he were having another internal battle. She decided she couldn't help him with that, at least right at the moment.

She looked over at Joel to see him pull out a roll of gauze and then glance around. He disappeared for a moment into the aisles, coming back with two pieces of wood. She was already starting to guess what he was going to do.

Joel had her lean back against the wall while he rolled her pant leg up a bit, revealing her ankle to be somewhat red.

_At least it's not broken,_ she thought, wincing when Joel's hands lifted her ankle a bit.

"It's only sprained," he muttered, and she wasn't sure if he was talking to her or not. He directed his attention back to her friend, "Kevin, come hold her ankle off the ground."

Kevin seemed somewhat startled, almost as if he had been deep in thought. He nodded and bent down beside her, doing as Joel had said. The near constant pressure on her ankle was making it painful again, and she had to grit her teeth when Joel started to splint it.

"It's not broken, so why are you-?" she started to ask, but took in a sharp breath as Joel started to wrap gauze around the wood that was splinting her ankle.

"We can't stay here, and I don't want this to get any worse," he answered, understanding her slight confusion. Kevin was still quiet, but she didn't miss the worried glance he gave her.

"Alright, try standing," Joel and Kevin helped her up against the wall, and it still hurt to put pressure on her ankle, but not as bad as before.

Joel noticed this and nodded to Kevin, who then helped her walk away from the wall as they made their way out of the store. The truck wasn't going to be helpful anymore; it was damaged beyond repair, so they were back to walking.

They walked down the street for a bit, and she thought it was strange that they hadn't run into any more hunters. It was relieving, but still a little strange.

_If I remember correctly, they did say something about working in shifts…_

She kept glancing around, keeping a lookout for anything that could be hostile. She knew she wouldn't be much help, but she could at least have a chance of making sure they weren't surprised.

Joel stopped in front of a metal garage door and she recognized it from her first trip.

"We're going in the right direction," she mumbled, and Kevin glanced over at her, not saying anything about her comment. Joel had also noticed and she saw his eyes narrow a bit.

"You guys are going to need to go through quick," Joel instructed, "Once you're on the other side, you're going to need to find the other chain and hold it up until I get through."

Kevin nodded, and she knew she was helpless. Joel lifted the door as far as he could, and Kevin helped her through. Her friend quickly found the chain and pulled, motioning Joel through.

"Oh man," Kevin whispered as his eyes widened at the scene in front of them.

Piles of clothing and random supplies were scattered around the room, and a few skeletons were lying around. The room smelled bad, and she had to resist covering her nose.

"I should have turned the truck around," Joel muttered angrily, heading through another door after he had searched the room.

"He should have listened to you," Kevin whispered as he helped her up a flight of steps, making her hold back a laugh. Joel wouldn't have like it if he knew what they were talking about.

They walked into a side room, finding where the hunters had set up camp. Since the hunters wouldn't be using it anymore, Kevin and Joel searched the area. She rested on a mattress for a moment, feeling somewhat worn out.

_At least my ankle is starting to feel better,_ she became distracted when she heard the click of a gun and glanced over to see Joel find a small stash of weapons, _I don't think that was there last time…_

"Alright," Joel muttered, and Kevin took that as the signal that they were leaving.

Kevin started to walk out the door, seemingly distracted. Joel cleared his throat, getting her friend's attention. Kevin's head popped back through the doorway as he stared at the older man. Joel motioned with his head towards her, and Kevin seemed to blush in embarrassment that he had forgotten about her.

Kevin helped her up from the mattress, and she felt bad that he seemed tired as well. They started to walk out the door, but Joel stopped them again.

"Wait," she glanced back at Joel, somewhat annoyed. He seemed to want to say something though. He walked towards them, handing Kevin the shotgun from Bill's Town. He then handed her a small pistol. She saw his revolver in his hand.

"We're probably going to run into more hunters, so you two should be armed," Joel explained, and then seemed to catch on to her negative thinking, "Ellie, I know you can't do much now, but you can still shoot."

She nodded, finding truth in his statement. It made her feel happy inside that he still believed in her.

They then continued through another door leading them outside. Kevin helped her down the path leading to the ground, and she saw Joel staring at something in the distance. She followed his gaze, seeing the yellow bridge.

"That should be our way out," Joel stated, and she nodded, knowing she should probably inform them now.

_Let's just hope they listen to me this time,_ she took a deep breath, organizing her thoughts.

"We should be able to cut through the hotel," she stated, waiting for them to react.

"The hotel? What hotel?" Kevin asked, a confused look on his face as he looked over at her.

"There's a hotel further in the city," she explained, "It should lead out of here. We have to head through some abandoned checkpoints, through the bookstore, and then onto a bus."

Joel stayed silent for a moment, and his eyes trailed to her leg. His gaze seemed to soften as he nodded.

"We should head there then," he said, not arguing, "It's a good plan."

She let a small smile slip as Kevin nodded as well. They continued walking, coming to the abandoned checkpoint.

"Careful on the way through here," Joel said from his position ahead of them, "it's got a lot of sharp turns."

_It's like he cares about us,_ she thought, feeling as if they were close again. He hadn't started really acting like this until winter, after she had…

Voices in the distance made her nightmarish thoughts stop, and they quickly took cover when she realized that hunters were near.

"What should we do?" she asked, glancing over at Joel. It almost seemed as if everything was the same as it was, except the fact that Kevin was here.

"Stay hidden," Joel instructed in a whisper, "I'll take them out. It doesn't seem like there are too many."

Ellie watched as Joel started to sneak through the debris towards the hunters. When he disappeared from view, she started to panic a bit. She took a shaky breath, feeling almost alone like she had when Joel had gotten injured at the University.

The silence seemed to stretch on forever, and she could hear nothing but her heartbeat. Kevin was as nervous as she was.

"It's alright. The coast is clear," Joel's voice made her let out a breath she had been holding. She stood up, realizing she could put a bit more weight on her ankle.

_Not much, but it's a start,_ the thought made her smile.

She followed with Kevin out into the small area of tents, seeing the hunters' bodies on the ground. She took a glance, feeling some sadness as they passed by.

"It's different than the Infected, right?" Kevin mumbled, and she knew he was feeling the same way.

"Yeah," she whispered, not sure what else she could say. All that kept coming back to her was the two weeks she had been alone, when Joel had nearly…

She stopped her thoughts, wiping her eyes when tears started to threaten.

"You alright?" Kevin asked, looking concerned. She nodded, seeing Joel look back at her with a somewhat pained expression. She couldn't tell him about what she had been thinking; that would mess things up too badly.

They soon came to the bookstore, and she realized that they could get around it without having a fight.

"There's a back exit that we can sneak to on the second floor," she whispered, and Joel nodded, taking in her advice.

They snuck along the tables until they came to the stairs. She glanced back to see the hunters still making their rounds on the first floor, and then followed Joel up the stairs. More hunters were on the second floor, but luckily they were away from the exit.

When her feet hit the ground outside the exit, she felt relief run through her at the avoided situation. Any one of them could have gotten hurt, but she was able to prevent that.

Kevin suddenly ran ahead of them, making her somewhat lose her balance. She started to head towards the ground, but Joel caught her. She wanted to say thanks, but one look at his angry face made her rethink it.

"Kevin!" Joel shouted, helping her along as they went after her friend.

"Hey Ellie, come look at this!" Kevin's excited tone made her somewhat confused; that was until she saw what he was looking at: a Savage Starlight poster.

"This is the series we're going to collect, right?" he asked, but his excitement faded when he saw Joel's angry face. He didn't seem to get it at first, but when he saw that Joel was helping her walk, his eyes widened. She cut him off before he could say anything.

"It's alright," she said, hoping to avoid an argument. Joel seemed to sense this and took a deep breath.

"There's the bus," Joel said, pointing at the floating bus that led up to the hotel entrance. Only problem was that it was surrounded by water, and both her and Kevin couldn't swim.

"How are we going to-?" Kevin asked, staring at the water, but then looked over at her.

"There's a pallet over there," she pointed to where a submerged car was, near a stone bridge.

Joel went to retrieve the pallet, leaving her alone with Kevin.

"So, uh… how do you know all this?" her friend asked, leaving her somewhat afraid. She didn't want to tell him the truth: that he had replaced her, but she had to say something.

"Let's just say I've been through this area before," she stated, glad that Joel was back with the pallet.

"Get on you two," he said, and Kevin helped her sit down on the pallet.

Joel pushed it through the water and over to the bus, and she got on, pushing a ladder to the edge. Joel climbed up a moment later, and she was relieved that they were all together.

"If we head through here, we should be able to get out of the city," she commented, pointing to the hole in the stained glass window that was their entrance.

Joel went down first, and then Kevin followed. She wasn't quite sure how she was going to get down with her ankle, but Joel stood directly below her.

"Come on down. I'll catch you," his words gave her relief, and he caught her before she hit the ground.

"Wow," Kevin's comment made her glance over at him, seeing him staring at awe at their surroundings, "This is fancy."

"I know, right?" she gave a small laugh at his excitement as Joel and her caught up to him, "We can get up through there."

She pointed to a gap where the railing had broken up and, since the stairs were beyond use, that was their only way up.

Kevin helped her so that she leaned on the wall, waiting as Joel then boosted her friend up to grab a ladder on a ledge. Joel came back with the ladder and she moved as he went up first. She went up second, and Kevin followed soon after.

They walked up a flight of steps and through a window. Warning bells went off again, and she crawled over to hide behind an outdoors air vent. She looked over to see Kevin and Joel giving her weird looks.

"What are you hiding from?" Kevin asked, clearly confused. She stood up, frowning when she realized there were no voices.

"I thought there would be hunters. I guess not," she shrugged, finding the something off about the situation.

As she followed Joel and Kevin through another window into another section of the hotel, she found it strange that there were no voices.

_Where did all the hunters go?_ She wondered, staring around at the inside of the hotel, _There were so many last time._

Joel seemed to be somewhat alert, but he was always like that. Kevin was just staring around at the hotel in amazement. She shook her head, thinking that things might be different this time.

They climbed another flight of stairs and came to a jammed elevator. Joel was able to open it, revealing a ladder inside that led to the main elevator system. Kevin closed the hatch behind them, and she realized where they were.

"We should be able to head through there," Joel pointed at a hole in the wall on the other end of the elevator and then started to move along the wall, "It's a tight fit, but we should make it."

"Joel, the elevator's not stable," she warned, feeling some panic, "It collapsed last time with both yours and my weight."

Joel looked suspicious at the second part of her warning, and she wanted to smack herself. She had revealed way too much.

"You two were here last time?" Kevin asked with his eyes wide, and then he glanced down at the elevator. They were all standing on the ledge, waiting to figure out how to cross without making it fall.

"I'll go first and get up the wall, then Kevin can go, and we'll pull you up," Joel explained their plan, and then he jumped down. The elevator lurched, but it didn't fall. He made his way over to the hole and was able to climb up. He motioned for Kevin to go, and soon it was her turn.

She jumped off the ledge and onto the elevator, feeling it lurch again. She felt herself shake slightly in fear, and she took a deep breath to calm herself. She made her way over to where Joel and Kevin were waiting to pull her up.

"Jump up the wall slightly and we'll grab you," Joel instructed and she nodded, doing as she said.

The elevator lurched more this time as she jumped and both of them caught her shoulders. Her feet kicked for something to stabilize herself with, but a glance beneath her made her realize that the elevator was now sinking in the water deep below them. She started to panic when she realized she was slipping.

In a last ditch effort as she felt herself fall, she grabbed onto Kevin's leg, bringing him down with her. She felt the air rush around her, and panic set in for a few moments as she saw Joel's form fade.

Ellie felt water surround her a moment later; the fall knocking the air out of her. The water was dark as she opened her eyes, and she saw Kevin's form kicking frantically in the water, not going anywhere though.

Another splash near her made the water turn slightly white, and someone pulled her up to the surface. She came up sputtering for air, and Kevin coughing as he was pulled up as well. She looked over and saw Joel helping them towards the basement floor. It was still slightly flooded, but they could walk.

She threw up as soon as she got onto more sturdy land; she was soaked and freezing, and her bite mark was tingling for some reason.

A flashlight turned on, lighting up the room a bit. The light centered on her, and she looked over to see Kevin coming towards her.

"Ellie, are you-?" Kevin started to ask as he bent down beside her, but a startled gasp came from him as he backed away from her, disbelief in his eyes.

"What-?" she started to ask, but started to panic when she realized her sleeve was pulled up, letting the whole world see her bite mark.

She quickly stood up, backing against the basement wall as she pulled out her pistol, pointing it shakily at both Kevin and Joel as they came closer towards her.

* * *

I just thought I would end it off here, considering I haven't updated in a while and it's a good cliffhanger. Kevin and Joel now know that Ellie is infected, but what will they make of it? They don't know that she is immune, but will they give her a chance to explain? The ending of this chapter actually came from a concept art picture that I was looking at earlier (it showed Ellie with a look of fear on her face as she covered her arm with her hand and pointed her gun at something unknown). I thought it was interesting, so it became the focal point of this chapter. Either way, please tell me any thoughts or ideas in a review!

-AnimeWolfGirl9


	7. Acceptance

**Charizardflyer:** Thanks for the review!

**Wait. .YOU:** Haha, one word: Cliffhanger :)

**Salve-SiS:** Thanks!

**AnimeWolfGirl16:** Haha, yeah. I now have a mental image of that every time I play the level :)

**Barrissandahsokafriendz:** Kevin's reaction is definitely worth waiting for :)

**Madalyn1000:** Yes, we will be seeing all of them and more. This fanfiction is expected to go to the end of the game, and also go through some of the parts that were skipped in the game.

**f (Guest):** Wow, a long one :) To answer your first point, I'm not really sure if Kevin would be considered an OC or not since Naughty Dog did technically create him (even if it was for a joke). By the end of this fanfiction, you will have had POVs from Ellie, Joel, and Kevin (except Ellie more than the other two). I definitely have some major twists that put different characters together in situations (like Joel, Kevin, and Ellie all being trapped in the basement as opposed to just Joel). Thanks for the advice too though!

**SupahMan14:** Glad to hear you enjoy it so much :)

**rangers123:** Wow, I just figured out from this chapter alone that you guys really don't like cliffhangers :) Good to know (even though I will probably still have them)

* * *

Chapter 7: Acceptance

"You're infected," Kevin's words came out as a strangled whisper, and she knew he was struggling not to cry.

Ellie saw Joel's hand go to his revolver after a moment of hesitation and she pointed the pistol towards him as a warning.

"I'm not infected," she whispered while feeling panicked and sick, shaking from fear as well.

"Then what is that?" Joel asked with an angry and somewhat sad expression on his face as he pointed at her bite mark. She glanced down at it, feeling tears threaten to overflow.

"I can explain," she said, shaking her head as she struggled not to cry. A glance over at Kevin made her see how broken he looked.

"How long have you had that?" Joel's question was direct, and she knew he was trying to distance himself from her already.

_He doesn't want to be hurt again;_ the thought hit her, making her saddened at how much Joel had to go through.

"Almost a year," she stated, seeing disbelief register on Joel's face. Kevin wasn't looking at her; he was staring at the floor with a lost expression on his face. She knew the feeling.

"That can't be-" Joel started to say, and her hand went to trace the bite mark as she lowered her pistol. She knew that she couldn't hurt him.

"Wait!" Kevin shouted as he came to stand near her, his mouth slightly open in disbelief, "Is it possible she's like me?"

_He knows;_ the thought made her step a bit closer to her friend as he gave her a reassuring glance.

"It's a slim chance, but it's possible," Kevin continued to argue, "I wasn't infected either."

Joel seemed to struggle for a moment, but he put his revolver back in its holster, seeming somewhat distant.

"We'll see," was all he said before starting to explore for a way out. She didn't know the way, since Joel had fallen down into the basement the last time.

"Was that how you weren't freaking out about me being infected?" Kevin asked, staring at her as if she knew everything he had to go through; all the hardships and pain.

_If only he knew the whole truth,_ she thought, dismissing the idea as quickly as it had come.

"Yeah," she whispered, giving him a nod. He started smiling a bit, giving her a feeling of hope that she hadn't lost her friend.

"That means that we can be weirdoes together," her friend said jokingly, and she laughed.

They started to follow Joel through the slightly flooded waterways, and they continued walking until they came to a stairway that was flooded with water.

"The only way to continue forward is down," Kevin mumbled, a slightly fearful look on his face. She knew that the feeling was mutual between them.

Joel seemed to assess the situation as he stared at the water, knowing that the only way to get to the exit was through the flooded stairway. He glanced back at them, seeming to be a bit less distant.

"We're going to need to go underwater," both of them nodded at his statement and he continued, "I know both of you can't swim, but I can guide you through the water to the other side. Kevin, you can go first."

Ellie glanced over at her friend's face and felt like laughing; it was a mixture of horror and fear.

"What happened to 'ladies first'?" Kevin asked as he walked forward, making her laugh.

"That philosophy was forgotten a long time ago," Joel muttered, helping Kevin into the water.

They disappeared under the water a moment later, and she was left standing alone at the edge of the water, keeping a lookout for any Infected. Any little sound made her jolt, but what surprised her the most was that she could hear something on the other side of the wall. She put her ear to the wall, realizing she could hear Kevin's voice on the other side.

"Ellie… made it… not that bad… watch out for…!" the message came in a bit obscured, and she turned her attention back to the water when Joel resurfaced.

"Come on," Joel motioned towards the water and helped her keep afloat for a moment, "You don't have to open your eyes. I'll guide you through here and to the other side, alright?"

She nodded, and then closed her eyes when water flooded around her. She had to hold her breath, and the darkness from the water and having her eyes closed made her feel slightly claustrophobic. It felt as if she could run into something at any moment.

She couldn't take it any longer and she opened her eyes, seeing a blurry black and green area of water around her. She had to keep opening and closing her eyes because of a burning sensation in them, and her lungs were starting to burn as well.

She started sputtering as soon as the water broke, and Kevin helped her out of the water. She was completely soaked now, and the draft in the room wasn't helping at all. She looked over to see Kevin shaking as well.

"If you get past the initial shock, it isn't that bad," he said with a smile and she shook her head.

The pain in her eyes made her close them as she tried to wipe whatever was torturing them out.

"I told you that you didn't have to open your eyes," Joel remarked, and she gave him a glare when the stinging had subsided.

"It's not very fun when there's complete darkness and you could hit your head on something," she muttered while Kevin nodded, agreeing with her.

"It was kind of fun though," Kevin commented, and she had to agree with him a bit. The feeling of being weightless, almost like you were flying, through the water was interesting.

"If you can get past the idea that you could drown," she replied, taking a deep breath to try and warm up.

A hallway was in front of them, and at the end was a room off to the left. Small white particles were coming out of the room and she looked over to see Joel putting on a gas mask. She walked up to the room, seeing spores spilling out of it in a thick cloud.

"Don't you need a-?" Kevin started to ask, but then glanced at her wrist, which now had her sleeve pulled down, "Oh, I get it!"

Joel seemed to be struggling with the fact that she didn't have a gas mask, and she decided to prove it to him once and for all.

"I guess this is the test, right?" she muttered, walking into the room and taking a deep breath. She started coughing a bit as the familiar smell entered her lungs, "Still has that weird smell though."

Kevin started laughing as he joined her, taking a deep breath as well.

"Yeah, it kind of smells like… I don't know how to really say it," he said, a confused look on his face.

"Like the Infected would be the best way to put it," she answered with a smile. She glanced back at Joel, "Are you coming?"

He nodded, walking into the cloud of spores until he was in the lead again. She kind of felt bad that he had to wear a gas mask; it looked really suffocating and uncomfortable; plus inconvenient because if someone was chasing you, you would have to stop to put it on.

Ellie followed Joel through the spore filled room, coming to another hallway. This one had multiple rooms attached to it, and she instantly was reminded of a maze.

"Which way do we go?" she asked, glancing at Joel and Kevin for an answer. She had no idea where to go, but they had to get out of here quickly.

Joel shook his head, looking slightly frustrated in the dark. The only light they had was from their flashlights and, even though it wasn't much, it was better than complete darkness.

"There should be a generator somewhere around here," he said, walking into the room closest to them. It was filled with shelves full of paperwork and some supplies.

"Do we need the generator for anything besides light?" she asked, realizing that Joel might not know the answer.

"Maybe, maybe not," he shrugged, confirming her realization.

Kevin was glancing around with some fear in his eyes. She was sure that it was from more than just the dark. She felt like something was off as well, causing her to shiver involuntarily.

"Do you think we'll find it soon?" Kevin asked, a creeped out expression on his face. Joel glanced back at them as they walked into the second room, finding nothing of importance, causing them to head back to the original hallway and into the third room.

"I don't know. We don't even know if there is one," Joel stated, sounding slight annoyed about her friend's behavior, "Why?"

"I have a bad feeling…" Kevin trailed off, staring into the dark corners of the room as they started to walk up a slab of ceiling that had collapsed over the years. Joel frowned, not happy with the situation. She knew that he was having a hard time accepting what Kevin had said, so she decided to add her two cents.

"It's not just him. Something's off about this place, Joel," she stated, increasing her pace a bit. She wanted to get out of here quickly. Her bite mark had started to tingle a bit again, causing her to hold her hand against it to try and make it stop (without success).

Joel took a deep breath, most likely trying to think. He stopped outside of a door on the right, and she noticed a gaping hole in the wall directly across from the room.

"It's probably just your imagination," he mumbled, obviously not finding an answer to their mutual feeling. He walked into the room and she followed, seeing him pick something up. She read it over his shoulder.

"A security card?" she asked, growing somewhat confused.

"That means there should be a door leading out of this place somewhere," Joel answered with a nod, "Hopefully we find the generator first."

Something suddenly screeched, and Kevin's form went whizzing past her as something pushed him against the wall. He struggled for a moment while she tried to get over her shock before being able to reach for his shotgun. His attacker fell to the ground, dead.

"Stalker," Joel muttered, glancing over into the gaping hole across from them, suddenly on high alert.

Ellie only had limited experience with this type of Infected; back in the Suburbs they had been attacked by a swarm of Infected and a few Stalkers had been among them.

"You alright?" she whispered over to Kevin, pulling out her pistol. She was sure Joel would be able to handle the Stalkers, but she didn't want all three of them to be infected; she was pretty sure that Joel wasn't immune.

"Yeah… I think so…" Kevin spoke slowly with widened eyes; she guessed he was having an inward panic attack.

More gunshots followed, and the Stalkers were quickly disposed of. Joel motioned to the dead Infected on the floor.

"Maybe that was the 'bad feeling' you guys had," Joel suggested, and she laughed a bit, thinking he was trying to lighten the mood. Kevin nodded shakily, still getting over the initial shock of being attacked.

"We should find that generator quickly," she stated, starting to walk out of the room. Joel caught her shoulder, holding her back so that he was in front. She almost laughed at his serious expression, but she knew that it might get them in even more trouble.

They didn't run into any more Stalkers, and they came to a hole in the floor. Joel jumped down first; giving the room a quick look to make sure it was safe. He motioned for them to come down.

She sat down at the edge of the hole, sliding down and hitting the floor. She stumbled a bit when her ankle hurt momentarily, but she figured that she would have to put up with it.

"Here we go," Joel muttered as he walked up to the generator, his voice slightly distorted from the gas mask. She had no idea why she was just realizing this now.

_Another disadvantage of the gas mask._

Kevin and her exchanged glances, and then both of them burst out laughing. Joel seemed somewhat annoyed by this, not understanding what was going on.

"What are you laughing at?" he asked, the use of his distorted voice making her laugh even harder. Kevin looked like he was about to suffocate, and she had to calm down before she did.

"Your voice," she answered with a smile when she had calmed down, getting another partially held back laugh from Kevin.

Joel shook his head in slight annoyance and disbelief, starting to work on the generator. It roared to life a moment later, and the lights somewhat blinded her from being in the dark for so long.

"Finally, I was starting to think we would never-" Kevin had started to say with a sigh of relief, but stopped when more screeching sounded from behind him.

All three of them turned around to see a horde of Infected starting to pour through the other rooms, and her eyes widened in shock as she started to run as fast as she could after Joel.

"Where are we going?" she shouted, glancing back to see the Infected still chasing them.

"Anywhere but here!" Kevin shouted with a look of panic on his face; surprisingly enough he was running faster than her this time.

Joel led them through another door and down another hallway. A closed door was on the right, and she noticed some sort of box beside it. Joel quickly pulled out the security card they had found moments before, sliding it into the box and hurrying them through the door. He closed the door when they were all through and locked it.

"That was…" Kevin started to say as he took deep breaths, but he shook his head, not able to continue.

"What now?" she asked, glancing around and realizing they were in another part of the hotel.

"Same as before. We find our way out of here," Joel answered, starting to explore the rooms.

There were three in all (discluding the closed one at the end of the hall); an office, a supply room, and a bathroom. Just as they were coming out of the bathroom, something that she thought might never happen occurred.

"Wait!" Kevin shouted, running back into the bathroom while shouting, "I need to go!"

"Seriously?" she shouted, wanting to laugh. It seemed so unexpected that she just wanted to laugh.

She glanced over at Joel, seeing him close his eyes and sigh. It just occurred to her that this was one of the first breaks he had since meeting them.

"Uh… I just want to say thanks," she started, staring at the floor, "for allowing me to come with you and all."

"Yeah," Joel answered, giving her a nod and then motioning towards where Kevin had gone, "I doubt he would have left that area until you came with us either way."

She figured it would be the closest she got to a "you're welcome" from Joel, but it made her smile nonetheless.

"I'm good," Kevin came out of the bathroom, making her shake her head in amusement, "Sorry for the delay."

Joel seemed slightly amused as well, but he could hide it. She could only tell because she had been able to pick up on the slightly varying expressions he made.

"Let's keep going," he said, walking up to the closed door and opening it.

The room they walked into was large, and it seemed vaguely familiar to her. Puddles of water were captured in gaps where the flooring had eroded, and foliage was entering through the cracks in the windows and floor.

A ladder sat against the far wall, making bells go off in her head. She stared at the spot for a moment, and then up at where the ladder led, being reminded of a conversation.

"_Why didn't you stay put like I asked you to?" Joel demanded angrily as she sat down, staring at the floor in shock. He had taken the pistol from her, leaving her hands to cover her eyes as a wave of nausea hit._

"_You're glad I didn't though, right?" she asked, glancing at him while trying not to stare at the dead hunter's body in the small pool of water._

"_I'm glad I didn't get my head blown off by some kid," Joel retorted, sounding angrier than she had heard him in her life._

"_You know what? No," she stated, standing up from where she had been sitting and walking towards him, "How about 'I know it was hard Ellie' or 'Thanks for saving my butt'? Do you have anything like that for me, Joel?"_

_He stared at her for a moment, breaking his gaze as he walked past her._

"_Let's just keep moving."_

The fight seemed like it had only happened yesterday, but that might have been from the pain it had left. Sure, she knew she should have followed his orders, but she had been worried about him. He had been gone for so long…

_I can't think about that now,_ she thought, knowing they had to find some other way to get around; either that or find a way to get rid of the hunter first.

"Wait," she started, trying to choose her words carefully as Joel and Kevin both turned to look at her. She had already revealed more than she would have liked. "We need to be careful."

She instantly wanted to smack herself; how was what she said going to change anything? Joel's next statement only confirmed her thought.

"I know."

"No, it's…" she let out a frustrated sigh, starting to pace the floor a bit. She shouldn't give away too much information, but she didn't want anyone to get hurt. She had personally never struggled with words so much before in her life.

"It's what?" Kevin asked, clearing confused. He had every right to be.

"Never mind," she answered, shaking her head. She bit her lip, not wanting to say anything as Joel started to climb the ladder.

_Just let things play out like they should,_ a voice inside her head murmured, not reassuring her much.

The hunter appeared just when Joel got to the top of the ladder, kicking Joel off of it and to the water below. Kevin glanced back at Joel's falling form quickly before grabbing the unsuspecting hunter's leg, pulling him off the ladder. What Kevin hadn't anticipated though was that the man's weight would pull him down as well.

Ellie was unsure of what to do, but she pulled out her pistol and trained it on the hunter, having a hard time following what the voice inside of her head had suggested.

"Just let it play out," she mumbled, knowing that she should only intervene if either Joel or Kevin was going to die.

Kevin had his hunting knife out and was trying to keep the hunter away from Joel, but without much success. She finally decided that she had to do something and fired; the room falling quiet a moment after.

Joel picked himself up from the pool of water, looking somewhat angry. She couldn't tell what the anger was from, but he quickly went back up the ladder and glanced around, seeing that there was only one.

"Come on," he ordered, and she knew he was trying to calm down a bit.

They walked into a ballroom; the sight still taking her breath away. She wondered what it would have been like to actually attend something like this, before the outbreak.

_Joel might know…_ she thought, but then decided against asking him. He already had enough to worry about.

Just as they were exiting the hotel, a tank controlled by a hunter spotted them, forcing them to flee through the buildings. Ellie felt her heart pounding as they climbed through a window on the second floor and started to sneak along towards another window.

_I can't take it anymore. I should just tell them everything. We could just head to Salt Lake City and get this done with,_ she thought, but as soon as she opened her mouth, her vision started to darken and she grew dizzy.

She was in between Joel and Kevin, with Joel going first and Kevin in third, so it was no surprise that she felt someone try to steady her as she passed out.

"You can't do that," Riley was sitting a few feet away in front of her. Ellie realized that she was back in the mall.

"Do what?" she asked angrily. When she actually asked for her friend's help, she doesn't get any, but now Riley decided was a convenient time to intervene?

"You can't tell them. You need to let things play out," her friend stated, shaking her head.

"Why? It would make things so much easier," Ellie was starting to become annoyed, "How can I fix this when I don't know what to do?"

"You're supposed to fix the problem," Riley answered, confusing her once again, "And how would you like it if someone spoiled your journey for you?"

"How am I supposed to fix the problem when I have no idea what the problem is?" she asked, not sure what Riley meant. Spoiling the journey? This was a dream, right?

"Maybe," Riley's voice cut through her thoughts, "You'll just need to figure it out. Something's already happening Ellie, so you need to be prepared."

Ellie tried to answer her friend, but instead was met with another dizzying sensation. She fell to the floor as Riley's form faded, leaving her with nothing but the pitch darkness of sleep.

* * *

Just to tell you, I kind of skipped some of the action that happened between leaving the hotel and the tank. I wanted to get this out since you guys have been waiting patiently for the next chapter, and it wouldn't have been that productive anyways. Either way, Riley has reappeared (again), and with more startling news. Ellie can't "spoil" the journey for Kevin and Joel, and something big that will impact the rest of their journey will be revealed in two chapters! Get ready for something mind-blowing! Well, at least I hope it's mind blowing for you guys (it's another plot twist). Please tell me what you thought in a review!

-AnimeWolfGirl9


	8. The Three of Us

**Jblover19 (Guest):** Thank you and I believe the other Last of Us fanfiction you were meaning was "Survivors". That was the first one that I made on this forum. And it is possible for your request. I have been thinking through a few ideas, but have not been able to come up with something solid yet. I have so many ideas that need to be released yet that it is possible.

**Wait. .YOU:** Good guess :) You will just have to wait until next chapter to find out though!

**Charizardflyer:** Go for it! I'll gladly read it if you do make one :)

**rangers123:** These questions will definitely be answered by the end of the fanfiction; although the answers to them might be interpreted differently for each person.

**Madalyn1000:** Thanks!

**Barrissandahsokafriendz:** Haha, yeah Kevin is definitely becoming suspicious (as revealed in this chapter).

**revencita:** Yep :)

**HeatherNightRiver:** Glad you enjoy it :)

* * *

Chapter 8: The Three of Us

Kevin didn't know what to do when he saw Ellie's eyes close as she passed out. His eyes widened in shock as he tried to keep her unconscious form from falling off the edge of the walkway.

The tank controlled by the hunters was just below them, meaning that if Ellie fell, then they would all die. He definitely did want that.

Joel finally saw the problem he was having and used his arm to keep Ellie pressed up against the building.

"She seriously needs to stop doing this," Kevin muttered, feeling somewhat worried.

Ellie had almost passed out like this back at Bill's, but this time seemed somewhat different. She had looked like she wanted to say something, so maybe it was that she was warning them of something? Or maybe she wasn't feeling well? Maybe she wasn't immune at all, but was just trying to stop the guilt he felt? He had no idea.

"Kevin, you're going to need to keep her from falling until she wakes up or we can get her through the window," Joel started instructing him in a whisper, "I'm going to have to make sure everything is safe, so if she doesn't wake up by then we'll need to get her through the window."

Kevin nodded, taking a deep breath before Joel let his arm fall and snuck through the window. He had a hard time keeping Ellie against the building, but that wasn't the end of their problems.

He heard the sounds of a struggle coming from inside the window, and he instantly knew that Joel was in trouble. His conscience was divided; he had to make sure Ellie didn't fall, but he didn't want Joel to get killed either.

_I should just try pushing her through the window,_ he thought, starting to inch along the walkway again while being able to somewhat keep Ellie from falling.

As soon as he got both him and Ellie in front of the window, he felt his balance starting to tip backwards. He quickly pushed Ellie through the window, expecting himself to fall backwards onto the pavement below or be spotted by the tank.

Instead, Ellie's shoe caught his leg when she fell forward, pulling him through the window as well. He landed on the ground hard, wondering how Ellie hadn't woken up from the impact.

"She must be having a deep sleep," he muttered, sitting up slightly. The scene in front of him was something he hadn't expected.

Joel was above another man, looking as if he were ready to attack him. Both had frozen their actions, staring at a kid who looked similar to the man. The kid had been pointing a gun at Joel, but had directed it in Kevin's direction when he and Ellie fell through the window.

Kevin quickly got up and stood in front of Ellie, who was still lying face down on the floor.

"Put the gun away Sam," the man who Joel had been attacking said to the kid after glancing at Kevin.

Joel walked over to where Kevin was, still wary of the two in the room. He let out a frustrated sigh when he saw what Kevin had gotten Ellie into.

"I said to get her through the window, not make her do a face plant," Joel muttered at him, making him frown.

"There didn't seem to be any other way to get her through it when she was passed out," he argued, watching as Joel picked Ellie up and leaned her against the wall.

Kevin stood behind Joel and stared at the two other occupants of the room, not sure of what to do. The kid also seemed to be wary of them, but the man was a bit more relaxed.

"Sorry about that; I thought you were one of those hunters," the man apologized to Joel.

"Yeah, me too," Joel replied, sounding somewhat cold. He was wary of them as well.

"When I saw those two fall through the window however," the man motioned towards Ellie and Kevin, "I knew that couldn't be the case. They don't keep children around, if you have noticed. Survival of the fittest and all."

"No kidding," Kevin muttered, glancing out the window to see that the tank had moved on.

_One less thing to worry about,_ he thought, wondering if the man was hostile. He certainly wasn't acting like it now though.

"My name's Henry; this is Sam," the man motioned to the kid, whose gaze was directed at the ground slightly. Kevin realized he must be nervous.

"I'm Kevin," Kevin said and then motioned to Joel, "and this is Joel."

Joel gave him a stern look, making him frown.

"They introduced themselves, so at least they aren't trying to kill us," he argued, but then remember Ellie was against the wall behind them, "and this is Ellie. She would have already beaten me with the introductions, but she's kind of out right now."

The kid, Sam, gave a small laugh at his attempt to lighten the mood.

"Yeah, I kind of noticed," Sam said, making Kevin seem a bit more comfortable. Yeah, they weren't going to be killing each other anytime soon.

"How many are with you?" Joel asked, making the mood seem to darken again. Sam looked towards the ground again with some bitterness.

"They're all dead," he muttered, shocking Kevin a bit. Henry, however, lightly tapped the kid's shoulder.

"Hey, we don't know that," he said, and Kevin could tell the two were really close. They looked similar, so he was guessing they were family.

"There were a bunch of us," Henry continued, "Someone had the brilliant idea of going into the city to look for supplies. The hunters ambushed us, and now we're scattered. We're just trying to get out of here and to someplace safe."

"We could help each other," the comment flew out of Kevin's mouth before he could even stop it, making him receive another stern look from Joel.

"Kevin, don't," Joel stated sternly, making him frown.

"What about 'safety in numbers'?" he asked, motioning towards Ellie's still unconscious form behind them. What he really was trying to say was "we need as much help as we can get, especially with Ellie being unconscious", but he knew that he couldn't say that in front of the other two.

"He is right," Henry broke into their silent argument, "We could help each other."

_Thank you that someone is open for the idea,_ Kevin thought, giving Joel somewhat of a glare.

"We have a hideout not far from here," Henry continued, somewhat shocking everyone, "It would be safer if we chatted there."

Joel waited for a moment, mulling things over. Kevin knew that he was being overly cautious; why else would Henry and Sam tell them their names and lead them to their hideout other than to help them?

"Alright, take us there," Joel said at last, picking Ellie up from where she was slumped against the wall.

Kevin wished that she would wake up soon; not that she wasn't pleasant when she was sleeping, but they had a major problem to attend to. He stared at her as Joel walked past him with her in his arms. She was peaceful when she was sleeping; it was better than having the threat of her punching him in the face or something when she was awake.

"Come on Kevin," Joel said, motioning with his head to follow Sam and Henry out the door, "Let's hope she wakes up soon."

Kevin trailed behind a bit, feeling somewhat tired. He knew he couldn't rest until they got somewhere safe, but it wasn't going to be easy to keep going like this. Sam stayed a bit further behind as well, but kept Henry in view.

Kevin thought about talking to him, but knew that they would have time while the "adults" talked over their plan. At least he hoped so.

They walked down a few flights of stairs and into a toy store. The tank started to move across the window, giving it a clear view of the inside. Kevin ducked down to hide. He glanced over to see that Joel had laid Ellie on the ground.

"How much further do we need to go?" Kevin asked after the tank was out of their view. His feet had started to ache again, and he was starting to worry that Ellie might not wake up after all.

"Not that far," Henry answered, standing up to glance out the window again. They were safe for now.

He heard a mumble come from over where Ellie was on the floor. He glanced over, seeing her mumble something, but he couldn't make out what it was.

"Can we wait to continue until she wakes up?" Kevin asked, glancing over at the other companions as he crawled over to sit beside Ellie. Joel had a doubtful look on his face, prompting him to continue, "She's going to wake up soon."

Kevin didn't really know if what he said was the truth; he just had a feeling that she would. Joel looked over at Henry and Sam for confirmation, considering that it was their hideout they were heading to.

"I don't see why not," Henry answered, standing nearby, "So long as the hunters don't find us, we should be able to stay for a while."

Kevin nodded his thanks, his gaze wandering back to Ellie. She seemed so similar to him, and he felt comfortable around her.

_It's almost as if I've known her before,_ he shook his head, knowing the thought couldn't be possible. He would have remembered her if so.

Even though her demeanor was a bit more assertive than his, he still found similarities. They both seemed to be comfortable using some form of knives (shown by her switchblade), although he guessed that wasn't really uncommon.

"I just have to ask, but are you two siblings?" Henry asked, staring over at him and Ellie. Kevin knew that he was trying to make everyone more at ease.

"No," he answered, shaking his head. The question was strange, since Ellie even did look similar to him.

_Maybe she is my lost sister or something,_ he thought, remembering how families had been torn apart by the military boarding schools.

He frowned, wondering why Ellie had exactly agreed to come with them, as well as her strange sense of knowledge about what would happen.

* * *

Ellie opened her eyes slowly, feeling somewhat groggy. Kevin was sitting beside her, and the room they were in seemed familiar.

"Have a nice nap?" Kevin asked jokingly, and she could tell that he had been worried.

"Yeah, I guess," she mumbled, glancing around. It seemed like she had missed something.

Her eyes widened when she saw Henry standing nearby, as well as Joel.

_If Henry's here then that means…_

"Sam," she whispered, seeing her other friend sitting near Kevin. Kevin seemed to grow nervous as a somewhat surprised and suspicious look appeared on both Henry and his younger brother's faces.

"Uh, yeah. She has this really strange thing about being right," Kevin explained with a nervous laugh, and the other two occupants of the room seemed to relax.

"What happened? Where are we going?" she asked, using the counters in the room to stand up. She still felt a bit weak, but at least the dizziness had gone away.

"You passed out. Henry and Sam are allowing us to stay at their hideout," Kevin explained, helping to steady her when she got up.

_Their hideout,_ she thought, trying to remember what it looked like. She got a fuzzy image; colors blending together in a disorganized fashion. She shook her head, realizing that she couldn't remember.

"You alright to get going?" Joel asked, and she nodded, starting to follow him towards the door.

Henry looked back at Sam with a somewhat stern expression a moment later.

"What are you doing?" he asked his little brother, and she turned around to see her friend with a toy robot.

"I thought we could bring this with us," Sam explained, but when he saw the look Henry was giving him, he started to argue, "I have plenty of room-"

"What's the rule?" Henry interrupted his little brother, and Ellie was suddenly starting to feel awkward.

"'Only take what we need,'" Sam said with a sigh, letting the toy fall to the ground as he followed Henry and Joel out of the toy store.

Ellie glanced back and grabbed the toy robot, slipping it into her backpack as she remembered the record she had gotten for Kevin. She turned to walk out the door, seeing Kevin staring at her. He didn't say anything about what she did, and followed her out the door a moment later.

It wasn't long until they got to the hideout, and Ellie went with her two friends to sit on the couch while Joel and Henry went to talk about their "plan".

Sam seemed somewhat awkward around the two of them, and Ellie wasn't really sure how to fix it.

"Do you… like to read?" she knew she had to try, and she opened her backpack, careful to not let anyone see the toy robot inside. She saw Sam shrug, but she knew that he had mentioned that he at least enjoyed it.

Kevin seemed to catch on to what she was searching for; a smile appeared on his face as he watched her.

"You're going to like this," Kevin told Sam as she pulled out the Savage Starlight comic that she had showed Kevin in the car. She handed it to Sam, who gave a somewhat cautious look towards Henry. He started to read a moment later.

Both Kevin and her waited in silence as he read, and she guessed that both of them were just as excited to see their new friend's reaction.

"Where did you get this?" Sam asked after finishing, a happy expression on his face.

"One of Joel's friends gave it to me," Ellie said, and Kevin playfully punched her arm.

"Well, technically she took it," he said with a smile, and she knew she had to defend herself.

"It was just lying there!" she argued, and then started to laugh. Kevin and Sam joined in a moment later.

They talked for a while, and the conversation took many turns. Sam mentioned something about trying to find their group, and also that they were heading to the Fireflies.

"We're headed there too," Kevin said, and she could tell he was excited. An idea came into her mind, making her smile.

"Maybe we can stick together and find them?" she suggested, and they all nodded.

"Yeah, it'll be the three of us. We can be the three teenagers with strange pasts traveling in a messed up world!" Kevin said with enthusiasm, making her laugh.

"And we will survive!" she shouted, drawing a curious glance from Joel. He didn't ask though.

They all stared at each other and then started to laugh at their imaginations. The idea was good, but Kevin made it sound like a book summary.

"We should all get some sleep," Henry said as he walked over towards them, "We have a busy time tonight."

Ellie nodded, yawning a moment later. She saw Joel and Henry go to sit in a few chairs a few feet away. Kevin sat in a chair near the couch, where Sam was going to sleep. She walked over to another chair, sitting down and falling asleep quickly.

* * *

I was going to make this chapter longer, but I wanted to get it out. I thought this was a cute chapter, and I certainly had a fun time writing it. The next chapter will hopefully cover the second half of Pittsburgh and the Suburbs, as well as the plot twist at the end of the chapter! Today was also my birthday (and happy birthday to AnimeWolfGirl16 as well since it is her birthday too), so it would be awesome if I got some birthday reviews, although I would just like to hear what you thought either way! See you next chapter!

-AnimeWolfGirl9


	9. I Trust You

**Madalyn1000:** Here's the next chapter!

**Oohs (Guest):** We will see what happens. I can't promise anything though, and I will explain more about that later.

**rangers123:** I figured that doing Kevin's POV might make the story a bit more interesting. It wouldn't have been very much fun if I would have just skipped to when Ellie woke up.

**Barrissandahsokafriendz:** I plan on switching sometime to Kevin and maybe even Joel soon (we will see what happens. There is that whole time before Wyoming that wasn't in the game).

**Revencita:** Haha, yeah I would too. Although that would definitely freak Sam out :)

**AnimeWolfGirl16:** Glad you enjoy them! I think it could also be a dual meaning though as well :)

**Marianne Flash:** Haha thanks :)

Also, thanks to Madalyn1000, rangers123, Guest, and barrissandahsokafriendz for the birthday reviews!

* * *

Chapter 9: I Trust You

Ellie woke up long before Joel. Henry and Sam were already getting ready, gathering supplies to bring to the radio tower. Kevin had just woken up and was rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

The sun had just set, covering the room in darkness. They couldn't turn on any lights; that would just alert the bandits to their position. Of course, she had figured that by now her eyes were adjusted.

It was interesting to watch Joel sleep the few chances she got. He seemed like a completely different person, but she always felt sad when he mumbled. He seemed to have a lot of nightmares, which both had agreed were not fun.

She started to think on the fact that some things were starting to become hard to remember; like she wasn't able to remember what Henry and Sam's hideout looked like until she had stepped into the room. Other than that, things seemed pretty normal.

"Hey," Kevin's voice knocked her out of her thoughts and she glanced over as he sat down on the floor near her. He seemed somewhat nervous, but then again like he was trying to get a difficult subject talked over, "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," she answered, wondering what was making him so nervous. He usually wasn't like this, at least as far as she could tell.

Kevin seemed to struggle with his words and, just as he looked like he had something, Henry interrupted them (not on purpose).

"Can you wake Joel up? We'd better get going," Henry asked and she nodded, giving Kevin an apologetic look as she walked over to where Joel was sleeping (and mumbling) in a chair.

"Hey," she said as she shook Joel's shoulder lightly to wake him, "Henry says we should get going."

Joel woke up, and it seemed like he was more exhausted now than he was before going to sleep.

_Nightmares again?_ She wondered as she started to follow him out the room with a somewhat distant Kevin behind her.

She had wondered on multiple occasions if she should ask Joel if he wanted to talk about the nightmares, but she never had the right moment to really put it into action. She could somewhat guess what Joel was having nightmares about, but she didn't want to bring anything painful up.

They snuck out of the building and across some streets, not encountering anything so far. She found it strange, but it was a welcome break that was soon to be broken.

Ellie hid behind the counter of a store as Joel and Henry took care of a few bandits in the store. A light was shining from outside, and it seemed to be coming from something bigger than a flashlight.

"You three stay here; we'll take care of the lights," Henry instructed, leaving the three teens to wait in tense silence.

Kevin looked like he wanted to bring up whatever he was going to ask her back at the hideout, but she shook her head, signaling that it wasn't the right time. Of course he should have known that, but something was clearly bothering him.

The lights shut off from outside, and she heard Joel shout, "Come on out!" before she ran to where the two adults were.

Her eyes adjusted quickly to the dark, and she saw Joel and Henry trying to open a heavy gate. The sound of an engine assaulted her ears, and the tank from earlier came veering around the corner just as they closed the gate.

She ran quickly, waiting for her turn as Joel boosted henry up onto a bus that would lead them through the city on the other side of the wall. Sam and Kevin got boosted up and, just as it was her turn, the tank started to make its way through the gate.

Henry gave her and Joel an apologetic look as he kept glancing between the tank and Sam.

"We need to keep moving," Henry said as he started to run towards the other side of the bus.

Kevin seemed somewhat torn, glancing between them on the ground with the tank approaching and where Henry and Sam were heading.

"Kevin, go with them!" she shouted, grabbing Joel's arm, "I know where to go!"

Her friend seemed assured by this and followed after Henry, disappearing a moment later. She let out a relieved breath, but she soon ran towards another store after Joel when the tank broke through the gate, chasing after them.

"You said you know the way?" Joel questioned in a whispered tone as she hid beside him, taking calming breaths. One hit of the torrent on that tank could rip through both of them.

"Sort of," she answered, nodding slightly as she glanced over at him. She started to crawl along the edges of the cabinets in the store, running through the exit a moment later with Joel behind her.

More gunfire erupted behind them, and the light was shining towards them as Joel continued to yell at her to run. They made their way across some obstacles, losing the tank a bit behind them.

She stopped when the road suddenly ended, trapping them where they were. She glanced down below where a crack in the bridge showed deep water. Joel muttered something angrily from behind her.

"We need to find another way around," Joel informed her, and she shook her head, realizing the tank was getting closer.

"There is no other way! We need to jump!" she answered, standing near the edge of the break and glancing at him and then the water.

"You can't swim!" Joel shouted back, obviously trying to find another route for them to go.

"I know, but you'll catch me!" she answered, staring at him, "I trust you."

She didn't give Joel any more time as she jumped off the bridge, hoping that her words were true.

"Ellie-!" anything else Joel would have said was cut off by water rushing to meet her, blocking out her hearing as her head went under.

She instantly started to panic, not knowing how to get to the surface. She hoped that her trust in Joel wasn't misplaced; after all, this time she hadn't been traveling with him.

Her head broke over the surface for a moment, giving her a few seconds of freedom before sucking her back under again. Her lungs started to burn when her breath of air ran out and she couldn't get back up again. Darkness started to cover her vision, but she was vaguely aware of something grabbing onto her.

She came up sputtering a moment later, glancing at Joel who had been the one to pull her to the surface. She was about to say something, but alarm appeared in Joel's eyes and she heard him mutter something. She didn't have time to ask what it was though; Joel quickly turned her around to face the other way, and something impacted them from behind.

Ellie felt Joel's grip start to slip as he passed out from the impact, making her sink under once again.

"Joel!" she tried to shout, but was rewarded with a mouthful of water instead of an answer. She coughed, trying to clear her lungs of the invading water.

She was becoming tired quickly and didn't know what to do. Darkness covered her vision again, but this time she knew that Joel couldn't save her, and the both of them were as good as dead.

Just as she started to feel her consciousness fade away, she felt something grab onto her again, pulling her towards the surface and somewhere else along the water. She hit land, struggling to breathe as she threw up water.

Her vision was still hazy as she struggled to even kneel on the ground; her head pressed against the sandy dirt they were now on.

"Are you ok?" Kevin's voice suddenly appeared, making her look up to see him bending down beside her, concern and worry evident in his features. She nodded, too tired to speak as she stood up.

Her gaze wandered over to where Henry was pulling Joel out of the water as well, and she felt relief wash over her when she realized that she hadn't messed anything up.

_Things are still going the same,_ she thought as she took a deep breath, letting it out as she walked over towards Joel a moment later.

"Glad to see you're awake," Henry commented as Joel started to stir. Ellie started smiling as her and Kevin joined them.

Joel didn't look too pleased and she thought he seemed somewhat angry. He started interrogating Henry for answers, and Ellie didn't really like what Joel was thinking.

"Joel, wait!" she stopped any further argument, which was now what their questionnaire had become, as she stood between Henry and Joel. She knew that Henry was only trying to explain to Joel what had happened, but Joel wasn't taking it well.

"He left us to die," Joel stated, giving her and Kevin, who had now joined her, a stern look. Kevin replied with a look that she interpreted as "I will tackle you if need be", somewhat making her feel better. She wasn't sure if her friend could actually accomplish the feat, but it made her feel better to know that she wasn't alone.

"He saved us," Ellie argued, almost feeling like pleading, "I would have died. He saved me too."

Joel sighed at what she said, somewhat accepting her words as they continued along the beach, searching for a way to the radio tower and for more supplies.

She became intrigued when they came to a boat, but Kevin beat her to the question in her mind.

"Did everyone have boats back then?" her friend asked, staring wide-eyed at the old fishing boat that could have housed someone back before the outbreak. Joel glanced down at them with a somewhat amused expression.

"Yeah, I even had a sixty-foot yacht," she almost started to laugh at his statement, but her friend didn't get it.

"Really?" Kevin's eyes were excited as he stared at Joel, making her suppress her laugh as much as she could. Joel didn't answer, and Kevin finally caught on.

"Sarcasm," she whispered to her friend as she smiled, and his eyes grew wide again.

"Oh…" Kevin trailed off for a moment before giving her a thumbs up, "Making progress."

She finally let her laugh out, giving him a high-five as they walked up to a more grassy area. They waited with Sam as Joel and Henry lifted the metal covering off of the sewage pipe, which would hopefully lead them in the right direction.

She had to resist the urge to plug her nose when she got inside; the air smelled really bad, not to mention the small trickle of water they were walking in.

"Eww," Kevin muttered from behind her, "I don't even want to know what makes that kind of smell."

She let out a laugh, which then turned into a choked cough when she took in a breath of air.

"The answer to nearly every question: the Infected," she joked, trying not to take another breath, "or waste products."

Kevin let out a laugh behind her, but a glance back made her see his 'horrified' expression.

"Why?" he simply asked, shaking his head with a smile. She shrugged, falling silent when she saw a door in front of them. She let Joel pass, knowing that he would be angry if she went first.

Joel opened the door and went through. Not a moment later the sound of breaking glass made her freeze.

"Seems like an old warning mechanism," Henry commented as they stood around the broken bottles.

"No one is here though," Kevin mumbled as he looked around. Ellie did the same, seeing that the sewage drain they were in had remnants of someone having lived there.

_But who? And why did they leave?_ She wondered for a moment, realizing that she would probably never know the answer unless they ran into said person, which could be a good or bad thing.

Joel and Henry started investigating the living space, most likely trying to decide if the owner was coming back. That didn't mean that they couldn't gather some supplies- they would do that anyways- they just didn't want to be stuck inside if the owner happened to come back.

Her gaze settled on something, making her smile as she went to pick it up. Thankfully it wasn't flat.

"Kevin, Sam, come look at this!" she waved over her two friends, holding the soccer ball in her hands, "We could take turns."

Ellie went first while Kevin and Sam caught the ball as she kicked it. Both she and Sam did pretty well, and then it was Kevin's turn.

"So I just kick it, right?" he asked, making her want to sigh. He was acting like he hadn't seen what they were doing the first two turns.

"Yes," Sam answered with a nod, seeing the internal dilemma she was in.

Kevin nodded back, his gaze settling on the ball. He glanced their way, and then at the ball again, almost as if he was calculating something. Ellie started to get impatient, thinking he was never going to kick it. Kevin finally ran forward, his foot arched backwards to kick the soccer ball. He mistimed it, sending his kick into thin air as he slid past the ball, landing on the ground with a thud.

This got the adults' attention, and they had to continue moving. Ellie playfully punched Kevin's shoulder as he pouted about not getting to kick the ball.

"You at least tried," Sam commented as they followed behind the adults, but she could tell that both of them were trying not to laugh.

So far the only thing they came across was water, which didn't prove to be too much of a problem. The problem actually started when Joel opened another grated door.

Ellie and Kevin were further back with Henry, looking around at the tunnel they were in. Joel was ahead with Sam, and when he opened the door another trap went off, this time separating the two groups.

She walked up to the metal 'wall' that was blocking them from Joel, only being able to see to the other side by a small grated window on the 'wall'.

"Any way to lift it?" Kevin suggested, but it was hopeless. The 'wall' was much heavier and even if they all tried to lift it, the 'wall' wouldn't budge.

"We'll find another way around," Henry informed them, but she knew that his concern was mainly for his little brother, which she completely understood.

"We'll be waiting," Joel said with a nod, giving both her and Kevin and look before continuing, "I won't let anything happen to him."

Ellie knew he was referencing Sam, who was stuck on the other side with Joel, and she saw Henry relax a bit. Trusting who you cared about to a complete stranger wasn't something taken lightly, and she guessed that Henry would take care of them as well.

She started to follow closely behind Kevin and Henry, glancing around for any other ways through. They backtracked a bit and then found a side room which split off into another hallway.

Kevin obviously felt they were safe, but they had one small issue: the room was full of Infected. She thought they looked similar to the ones back in the hotel basement: Stalkers.

"We need to try and sneak around them," Henry whispered, motioning to the hallway on the other side of the room. Thankfully there was cover to hide behind, since she knew that Stalkers weren't blind like the Clickers.

She relaxed a bit when they got by without a problem. She had noticed a few Clickers mixed in with the Stalkers, so she figured that would have been bad if they were noticed.

The hallway led to another room, but the door was shut, forcing Kevin and Henry to open it while she guarded their backs. This proved to be a very idea, considering as soon as the door was opened, a Runner spotted them and came screaming down the hall.

Henry had to shoot it; the sound resonating off of the hallway. All of them froze when the sounds of the other Infected echoed back, sending them running into the now-open door. Henry tried to lock it, but the lock didn't catch and there was nothing to throw in front of the door.

They were just getting to the end of another hallway when the Infected broke through, screaming and jerking after them as they ran. They rounded a corner, all three shooting at the swarm behind them in hopes of finding somewhere safe.

A fourth gunshot made her glance ahead to see a somewhat surprised Joel, who ran with them back to a door. The door seemed to lead outside, but the problem was that it was locked.

"I can get through there and unlock it," Sam said as he pointed to a small opening above the doorway, prompting Henry to boost his brother up while they kept shooting at the Infected.

There seemed to be no end to the swarm, and Ellie thought they were going to be overrun. A satisfying click from the other side of the door made her think otherwise though.

Joel herded them through the doorway, slamming the door shut after the Infected. They all stood heavily panting as they took in the forest-like area around them.

Her gaze scanned across the wall of the building they had just come out of, and her eyes widened in shock and slight anger when she saw the words written on the wall: "Warning! Infected are inside! Do not go in!"

"You have got to be kidding me," she muttered, which got Kevin's attention as he followed her gaze.

"Nice warning," he commented with some sarcasm as he shook his head in disbelief.

"We might as well keep going," Henry pulled her out of her thoughts, motioning towards the suburbs in front of them.

She nodded, following after them. Her anger was soon replaced with curiosity as she gazed around at the suburban houses they passed. Some they couldn't get in, but others they found remaining supplies; not many, but it was a well-deserved break.

In one of the rooms was an old dart board, which made another idea similar to the soccer ball form in her head.

"Think we can play?" Kevin asked, reading her mind. Joel was off searching the upper floor for supplies, and Henry was leaning on a nearby wall.

A moment later, Sam started to explain how to use the dart board and the "rules" of winning.

"Henry told me about this once. All you have to do is throw the darts. You want to make them hit on the board, but hitting the middle is called a 'Bull's Eye' I think," Sam explained, taking a dart and throwing it at the board. It hit inside the board, so it was a good throw.

"So, all I do is throw it?" Ellie asked when it was her turn, getting a nod as a response. She concentrated on the board for a moment before throwing, landing in a similar area to Sam's dart.

Kevin's turn was next, and he was smiling for some reason unknown to both of them. She wondered if he had played before, which was soon answered when he threw his dart.

The dart embedded itself in the wall, not even close to the board, and Kevin gave an awkward shrug when she started to laugh.

"I tried," he commented, making Sam join in as they left the room, arguing about who had won. It was definitely either her or Sam; Kevin didn't even count because his didn't even make it to the board.

Henry and Joel joined them outside soon after, and they continued their exploration of the suburban town. Sam and Kevin soon came upon a slightly overturned truck, which prompted her to ask about it.

"Henry said this is something called an ice cream truck," Sam explained, "People would sell ice cream out of the truck."

"No way," she nearly scoffed, finding the idea almost unbelievable, and turned to Joel, "Joel, is that true?"  
"Yeah, kids used to line up in front of one of these to buy it," Joel answered, making her eyes widen as she stared back at the truck.

"Cool," Kevin whispered as he stared at the truck, "Do you think they still have some inside?"

"It would all be melted by now," was her answer as she laughed. This didn't discourage Kevin from trying to figure out the truth; he started climbing on the overturned truck and tried to find a way inside, making it Ellie and Sam's job to stop him. Joel finally had to come pry Kevin away from the truck so that they could continue.

Wild dogs started barking in the distance, reminding her of the ones back at the quarantine zone. By the look on Kevin's face, she guessed he was having the same thoughts.

They stopped for a breather, prompting her to look over at a wall and see the Firefly symbol painted on it. Everyone's gaze followed hers, which prompted a conversation.

"My brother was actually a Firefly," Joel said, making her think of Tommy, "Last I heard was that he set up camp in Wyoming. We go there, we find the Fireflies."

"Sounds like a good plan," Henry's answer made her smile, knowing that they would be traveling together for a lot longer time. The three teens shared a high-five moment before they continued down the road a bit.

A lone gunshot made her bend down behind an abandoned car, startling her a bit as the peace ended.

"Sniper," Joel muttered, ignoring the insults thrown at him from the said man in one of the houses up ahead, "You guys stay here; I'll take him out."

Ellie was about to protest, but a stern look from Joel made her think otherwise. Her mind was clouded with worry when more men came to stop Joel, so she started trying to fire at the ones on the ground to help him. That ended though when the sniper started firing at them again, but at least it gave Joel enough time to get inside the house and finish him off.

She let out a sigh of relief as she saw him up where the sniper's rifle was situated, but it soon turned to panic again when she heard the Infected behind them, in a larger horde than in the building they had escaped.

"Where did they come from?" she shouted as they started to run, knowing that no one else probably heard her. She figured that it was quite possible that they had come from the building, but that wasn't her main concern.

They were soon fighting in the wave of Infected; sniper shots from above made her realize that Joel was helping the best he could. Ellie got to the house first, but it didn't take long for them to decide that they had to get out of there.

The trek to the radio tower was longer than she would have expected; the Infected swarm being left far behind them in the confines of the suburb. The sun had already set when they got to the radio tower, and they quickly set about getting ready to stay for the night.

Sam had gone off into a side room alone, while everyone else was in the bigger room, and she couldn't help but wonder if anything was wrong. Her experience (or as Kevin liked to call it her "strange powers of always being right") didn't give off any clues.

Soon she motioned towards Kevin and they walked into the side room, leaving Joel and Henry to talk about motorcycles. Sam sat with a dejected look on his face as he sat at a table, messing with cans.

"What are you doing in here all alone?" she asked, walking over towards the table.

"Taking stock," Sam mumbled, and she grabbed one of the cans, reading the label.

"So, how are we doing on canned peaches?" she asked, but the can was quickly taken by Sam, who replied with "Fine".

She felt somewhat lost and hurt, and she took a step back towards a confused looking Kevin.

"Is everything alright?" she asked, watching as Sam got up from his seat and walked over to the window, leaning against it slightly. He nodded, leaving her feeling out of place.

Kevin and her turned to leave, but stopped when he started talking.

"How is it you two are never afraid?"

The question stumped her, and she turned around to look at their newest friend. She didn't know what had started this conversation in his mind, but she wanted to help.

"Who says that I'm not?" she replied, glancing over at Kevin who was silent with a strange look of worry on his face.

"What are afraid of then?" Sam asked, shaking his head as he sat down. She tried to keep the smile off of her face, wanting to cheer him up a bit.

"Well, scorpions are pretty creepy…" she started jokingly, but that seemed to upset Sam even more. Kevin was nodding his agreement with her as a slight shudder went through him, probably at some unknown memory.

She contemplated her thoughts for a moment, wondering if she should say them out loud. Her hand went to her bite mark, unconsciously rubbing it.

"I'm afraid of ending up alone," she whispered, nodding slightly. Even saying it out loud made the fear worse, and she glanced to the ground.

"Same here," Kevin confessed with a sigh, glancing over at her. Sam seemed satisfied with their answers and turned back to the window.

"Me? I'm afraid of becoming one of those things," Sam said, making her look up at him suddenly, "It just seems so horrible. Henry always says that they aren't people anymore, and that they 'went home' to be with their family. Do you think that's true?"

Her bite mark was starting to burn from the constant rubbing from her hand, but she felt sadness run through her. She had no idea what she thought of the Infected.

"It's a tricky subject," Kevin whispered, glancing away from them, "I don't think you would know unless you were one and then somehow came back."

Ellie knew that the knowledge of being immune was weighing heavy on his mind as well. She glanced over at him, seeing a frown on his face as he stared at the ground.

"I don't know what to believe. I guess it's possible, but…" she cut off, not sure of what to say.

"You don't really believe it."

"Yeah, I guess not," she confessed; Sam's words had been a mirror of her thoughts. Sometimes, she often figured that once you turned, you had to see what you did until someone killed you. It seemed somewhat more logical, but she would never know.

The air became tense, and Kevin walked over to where he set up his sleeping bag; Sam and Kevin were going to share a room while she stayed in the bigger one with Joel and Henry.

"Oh, I almost forgot," she commented, reaching into her backpack and pulling out the record and toy robot, handing the robot to Sam and the record to Kevin, "I figure if they don't know about it then what's the harm?"

"Awesome," Kevin whispered as he stared at the record in excitement; she knew that he knew they couldn't listen to it, but it was nice to see him cheer up a bit.

A yawn came soon after from her, prompting her to say goodnight. She left the room, heading over to her own sleeping bag when she had closed the door behind her.

Something urgent was nagging at her mind, but no matter how much she tried to remember what it was, the memory wouldn't come.

_I'll deal with it in the morning,_ she thought as she slowly drifted off to sleep. Little did she know that in the morning it would be too late.

* * *

First of all, I know that this chapter is seriously overdue. Sorry about that! I feel horrible for not updating sooner, but things have been getting pretty hectic with the return of school in a few weeks and then life in general. Next chapter will be out soon; I promise! Anyways, I know that Ellie staying in the same room with Henry and Joel might seem a bit weird, but it's for story purposes, so please bear with me! All will be explained next chapter. Please tell me what you thought in a review!

-AnimeWolfGirl9


	10. Too Late

**Wait. .YOU:** Thanks! And yes, I believe in the game she does stay in the same room as Joel and Henry, I just wasn't sure if it would seem weird since Kevin and Sam were in a different room. If it weren't for story purposes, it would have been more likely for the three teens to stay in one room and then the adults in another, or for everyone to stay in one room.

**rangers123:** Yeah, sorry it seemed a bit rushed. I didn't want to break it into separate chapters, considering that I end the chapters off for specific reasons (cliffhanger, the right timing, etc.) and I thought that if I did too many chapters with those sections then it would seem like I was drawing it out or they would be very short.

**Madalyn1000:** Thank you! And don't worry; I have no plans to abandon this fanfiction (or any of my other ones). I plan to see them all through till the end! :)

**Iloveyourfanfic:** Here is the next chapter! :)

**Guest:** I'm glad you like them! :) Haha, and awesome "powers of being right"

**AnimeWolfGirl16:** Haha, yeah the strange stuff that Kevin does :) If only we knew what went through his head.

* * *

Chapter 10: Too Late

Ellie thought her dreams had been quite pleasant, which was rare since she usually got nightmares. She couldn't remember what they were when she got up- that was normal- but something made her quickly forget her 'problem'.

"That smells great," she commented, stretching a bit as she watched Henry stir something in a bowl. She figured it might be something equivalent to soup, or maybe even the peaches she had been joking about the night before.

_On second thought, maybe not peaches…_

Peaches sounded great, she just wasn't so sure how you could make something out of peaches that could be equivalent to soup. Peach soup? It was a guess, but the more she thought about it, the more it didn't sound appetizing.

Then again, you don't really get to choose what you eat in this kind of world, and she figured she should be happy that she was getting anything to eat at all.

She glanced around, seeing Joel occupied with cleaning his rifle off in a corner of the room. Other than Joel and Henry, no one else was present.

"Where's Sam?" she asked, wondering where her two friends were. She knew that they had slept in the other room, but it seemed strange that they might not be up yet.

"I decided to let him sleep in a bit," Henry answered, giving her an amused glance, "You can go wake him up if you want. Kevin too, if he's not already awake."

She nodded, pushing the blanket off of her and standing up. She didn't think it was odd if Kevin was sleeping in- he seemed to do that often enough- but Sam seemed like he wouldn't sleep in. Then again, they had only known each other for around a day.

_And count last time with Joel, that would make two days…_ her thought trailed off as she approached the door, hearing something that sounded like voices inside.

"I guess I didn't give Kevin enough credit," she muttered, smiling a bit when she thought of 'ambushing' them.

She opened the door a crack, planning to see inside, but stopped when she heard Kevin speaking.

"Sam? What's wrong?" Kevin asked, sounding slightly frightened and worried.

She was going to look through the crack to see what he meant, but stopped when she heard a scream, which she presumed, was from Kevin.

This set all three of them on edge; Joel got up from the corner and started towards the door, Henry sat the bowl down, and Ellie slightly froze before slipping quickly inside the smaller room.

The scene that greeted her made her nearly have a heart attack; Kevin was backed up against a wall, and Sam was jerkily moving towards him without any recognition. She only watched in horror as Sam started to attack Kevin from the corner, her two friends wrestling on the ground.

Kevin screamed again, this time in pain, and Ellie launched herself at the scene, trying to pry Sam away from her friend.

"Sam, stop!" she shouted, knocking him away from Kevin but trying not to hurt him.

Sam fell to the floor, somewhat dazed. She went over to Kevin and was going to help him up but froze when she saw the bite mark now on his ankle. He was trying desperately to hide it, but the pain on his face was more than she thought she could take.

Sam had bit Kevin, and that meant that he was…

"Infected," she whispered, her eyes widening as it all came back to her. She didn't have time to process the images flashing through her head; something pushed her against the wall and she fought against it, realizing that Sam was now trying to bite into her neck.

Now was around the time that she started to wonder where in the world Joel was, or even Henry for that matter. They seemed to be taking too long, and Sam was getting ever closer to his goal.

She let a terrified scream slip as she tried to push him away unsuccessfully. Kevin tried to help the best he could, but his ankle wasn't helping any.

She could hear Joel and Henry arguing in the background, but she couldn't understand what they were saying. Her only goal right then was to survive and somehow help her friend regain his sense of mind. Some part of her knew that wasn't possible, but she was going to try anyway.

A gunshot rang out and Sam's attacks stopped. She was frozen for a moment, but then tried to get Sam's body off of her since she was having a hard time breathing from the weight. Kevin helped her, looking somewhat shocked as he helped her stand.

Ellie shoved away from her friend, falling back down to the ground and scooting into a corner. Her breaths were light and fast, feeling a panic attack coming on. Her eyes wandered to where Henry and Joel were, seeing the younger man's eyes filled with tears.

Her mind warned her of what was to happen next, and she closed her eyes tight a second before the gunshot rang out. When she opened them again, Kevin was looking just as traumatized as she was, and Joel was looking at a loss of how to help them.

Her eyes filled with frustrated tears as she stared at her friend's body. She didn't let any noise out, only shook as they fell from her eyes. Kevin seemed to give in to grief and confusion as well.

_I should have been able to stop this, but why wasn't I?_ She wondered, burying her head in her arms to attempt to hide her tears.

The realization hit her, making her realize the signs from the past day or so. She hadn't been able to remember what Henry and Sam's hideout had looked like, and she hadn't been able to remember this. She normally wouldn't have been able to forget anything, but Riley's words from her last dream filled her mind:

_"Something's already happening Ellie, so you need to be prepared."_

"Something…" she whispered out loud, her gaze settling on the far window. Joel had left the room, most likely to gather whatever supplies they could carry. She knew they couldn't stay here long.

_That 'something' that was happening; I get it now,_ her thoughts made her somewhat scared as the truth came out; _my memories of my journey with Joel, they're being replaced by these ones. I'm forgetting._

She looked over at Kevin, who had apparently cried himself to sleep in a short time; his head was slumped against the wall and dried tears made tracks down his dirt-covered face.

_They are being replaced by the ones with Kevin._

She stood up and walked into the other room, feeling somewhat numb. Joel was doing exactly what she had guessed, gathering the food that she had thought was soup and whatever else they could scavenge.

"What can I do to help?" she asked, wishing she didn't sound as broken as she felt. If anything, she felt more tired and angry at the fact that she hadn't been able to prevent this.

Joel looked over at her, an expression on his face that looked somewhat similar to sadness, except she knew that he wouldn't show such a thing.

_"People come and go in your life. You just have to move on."_

The words that invaded her head didn't make her feel any better; that was all she felt like she had been doing her whole life: moving on because no one ever stayed around long enough.

_That's the reality of the world we live in though,_ she thought as she helped Joel to gather the remainder of the supplies, including the canned peaches she had been joking about the night before.

They couldn't stay long. In the end, they woke Kevin and continued moving forward towards the Fireflies. Always moving on.

* * *

This chapter was also a hard one to write. When I got to this part in the game, it was such a shock at first. I hadn't really seen it coming and I, like Ellie in this chapter, wished that there could have been something I could have done to change it. Of course I figured I could change it in this fanfiction, but it wouldn't make sense for me to. Like Riley says, Ellie has to let things play out and not "spoil" the journey for Kevin and ("amnesia stricken", as she called him) Joel. The events play out the same as in the game with the realization that Ellie is losing her memories. I just thought that I would explain that first. Unlike the game however, I am not going to just skip to Fall and Wyoming. I am going to try and cover as much of the time in between that as I can (with another possible realization next chapter). Please tell me your thoughts in a review!

-AnimeWolfGirl9


	11. The Problem

**Wait. .YOU:** Thanks for the support!

**rangers123:** Thanks! I try to stay somewhat within the game's storyline, but I don't want it to be exactly the same (after all, we have one extra person in the group). I have some things planned for the in-betweens, but any suggestions are welcome.

**Madalyn1000:** Thank you! :)

**Barrissandahsokafriendz:** That part is going to be very interesting! I can't wait to write it, but for now we have all the time before that! No worries if you didn't review last chapter either. Hope you enjoy your time away and you will have at least this chapter to read when you get back! :)

**AnimeWolfGirl16:** Haha, strange thing is that I actually think of the same thing as well!

**ShatteringPromises:** I'm sorry that last chapter was shorter than the other ones. I like to end the chapters at certain points for story/plot purposes.

* * *

Chapter 11: The Problem

A few weeks of walking wasn't helping to clear her head like she had wanted. She no longer felt the aching of her feet as strongly as she had before, and she wandered aimlessly after Joel.

Walking had usually helped her to sort out her thoughts, but not this time. She figured that the 'remedy' to her overwhelmed mind wouldn't work anymore.

They had put the city of Pittsburgh behind them and were getting closer to the edge of the state, but that didn't mean that the memories were fading any faster. The memories that did matter, the ones that would have helped them further in their journey, were now disappearing quicker than ever.

She only now knew the outline of the memories, but she knew that those would soon be gone as well.

"Are you ok?" Kevin whispered from where he was walking beside her. She glanced over at him, seeing the tired expression on his face as well as the worry.

"Yeah," she mumbled, her gaze traveling to the ground, "I just have too much on my mind, I guess."

"I know what you mean;" Kevin's reply made her look at him again, "seeing someone you care about become infected is common in my life."

"You too?"

"Yep, nearly everyone I care about has gone out in one way or another; they don't stay around for as long as I hope. I guess that's just the world we live in though."

_Seems like the story of my life,_ she thought, feeling as if they had more in common every day.

They both fell silent again; a common pattern throughout the last few days. Ellie was left to her not too pleasant thoughts again.

More than just the events of the past few weeks weighed heavy on her mind. She was still thinking about how to "fix the problem", as Riley had dubbed it. She hadn't had any more dreams since the truck ambush in Pittsburgh, so that didn't help.

Another thought left her feeling confused: did she really want to go back to the way things were? That would mean leaving Kevin, and she had no idea how to get back. He was also her friend, a rarity in the pandemic world she had grown up in.

_If I can't fix this, I guess I wouldn't mind staying with them; at least until after we get to the Fireflies. Joel and I had plans, but maybe the three of us could make new ones._

Her thoughts made her even more confused, and even a little bit sad at what she had lost. Joel still somewhat acted like a father, but not on the relationship before traveling with Kevin.

Was it possible she could have been sent back in time? Was this an alternate universe? Or maybe it was just a dream?

She almost ruled out the last one; dreams usually didn't last this long, but she did give it credit if so because of the reality of it.

_Maybe it's just a nightmare, or maybe I really am dead and have a Riley personification to try and convince me otherwise; will me back to life or something like that;_ she sighed, not finding the answer as easily as she wanted to. There were a million other ideas floating in her head as well.

Kevin shivered beside her, and she realized that the wind had a bit of a bite to it today.

"It's going to be getting colder in the next few months," Joel stated, almost reading her mind, "We should try and find some warmer clothes in the next housing area we can."

She almost wanted to laugh at the second part of his statement; they hadn't seen any other houses or suburbs since leaving the one near the radio tower. All they had seen were trees, rivers, and grass.

They had been getting by on the canned food that they had gotten from the radio tower, which was almost gone by now, and through hunting what little they could find. Joel had been starting to instruct them on how to use different weapons, but especially the bow.

Ellie figured that she was the best at it, and Kevin was better with a hunting rifle. They were learning quickly, but she wondered why Joel was teaching them this now.

_Maybe he just wants us to be prepared in case we get separated like in the city._

She directed her thoughts back to her strange dreams about Riley, and what her friend could have meant.

_Could it be that the problem is something that doesn't belong here?_ She wondered, starting to make a checklist in her mind: _the Infected are still here, Joel's here, the Fireflies are still here, everything and everyone is still trying to kill us…_

Her eyes widened as a thought came into her head, smacking her straight in the face.

"Kevin," she whispered, staring at her friend who was now walking beside Joel, trying to strike up a conversation.

_Kevin is the only thing that is missing from the first journey;_ the realization made her nearly choke as she stared at him, suddenly feeling out of place.

_"Get rid of the problem"_ had been Riley's words, but that meant getting rid of Kevin…

"We'll need to stay in here for today," Joel muttered, bringing her out of her thoughts. They were standing in front of a small overhang.

A glance up at the sky made her see why: it was getting later in the day and the clouds were threatening them with rain. Usually they would walk until they found a more suitable place to stay, but they couldn't afford getting sick from the rain.

She was somewhat glad for the break. She went to one side of the overhang, looking out at the forest from underneath it as the rain started to pour within minutes. The weather matched her feelings perfectly.

Joel was most likely keeping watch, and she could tell by the soft breathing near her that Kevin was asleep already.

To fix this mess and get back to where she had been, she would have to fix the problem. But what if the problem was now your best friend?

* * *

Sorry that this is another short chapter; I'm just not sure how else to continue it. I usually try to get at least one thousand words in Microsoft Word for each chapter, so I at least got that goal done. The next chapter will most likely be out tomorrow evening/night (depends on how much I have to do). Also, next chapter will be more of a humorous filler (you guys deserve it; I've probably been downing you with too many sad chapters). Either way, please tell me any ideas (for the in-between time and in general) in a review!

-AnimeWolfGirl9


	12. A Welcome Distraction

**Madalyn1000:** Yes, Kevin's reaction is going to be interesting, especially with the horses… And I am glad that I am able to do him justice (I kind of wish that Kevin would have been in the game with Ellie, but that wouldn't have made much sense).

**rangers123:** Oops, sorry I was mainly meaning that Kevin could be considered the problem since he didn't 'exist' during the first journey, but I guess Riley could be considered the problem too… hmm… I just got a new way of looking at it :)

**Guest:** Great guess! Here is the next chapter!

**Just as a side note: I don't own the Nintendo Wii or Wii Play; all rights go to Nintendo.**

* * *

Chapter 12: A Welcome Distraction

Ellie hadn't expected to see another neighborhood so soon after Pittsburgh. She had figured that they had left that stage of their life behind, but the scene in front of her proved her wrong. A glance over at Kevin made her know that he was thinking the same thing.

"Come on," Joel said with a wave of his hand as he motioned them into one of the more suitable houses, "We can check for supplies here and possibly stay for the night."

The setting sun could be seen through one of the broken windows in the house, and they both waited around as Joel bolted the door shut. He knew that they were having a hard time as well, but there was nothing they could do but try and put the past behind them.

"So, where do you want to search?" Kevin asked her as Joel wandered off to search the basement of the house. She shrugged, signaling that she didn't care.

Kevin motioned towards the floor they were currently on, and she decided to check upstairs. She didn't need to wait for Joel, even though he would most likely be frustrated. The weight of her switchblade in her pocket made her feel better.

"I'm checking upstairs!" she yelled back to Kevin as she walked up the now rotting wooden stairs. It was amazing that they were still standing; most of the other stairways they had come to were either rotted beyond repair or filled with so much junk you couldn't get up them.

There looked to be three rooms on the upstairs level: two bedrooms and a bathroom. She quickly found nothing useful in the bathroom and went to search through the bedrooms.

Ellie took in the faded colors of the bed sheet on the bed in the middle of the room. Joel had started to open up a bit in the past few weeks, telling them a bit about life before the pandemic. One of those topics had been about house design and, if she could recall correctly, this seemed to be the master bedroom.

She absentmindedly went through drawers, figuring this was at least a bit over a year's worth of routine. Her thoughts wandered as she pulled stuff out of the drawers, some useful and some not.

_I can't fix the problem, can I?_ She wondered, knowing that, even if she wouldn't admit it out loud, she had been avoiding Kevin for a few days for as much as she could.

She knew that the reason was staring her in the face, but he was her friend and she didn't want to hurt him. She knew she couldn't.

"So this is what life is going to be like," she mumbled, walking back into the hallway and towards the smaller bedroom.

She wasn't sure how she felt about this whole "Joel doesn't remember and I now have a new best friend in a boy" sort of thing. It wasn't like she was offended or weirded out by having a boy as a friend, that was completely normal, but she didn't know what happened to Joel's memories.

_Will he ever remember?_ The thought had been circling around her head since the beginning of this bizarre 'dream', as she was now calling it.

Her eyes widened as she stood in the doorway of the smaller bedroom. It looked as if it was a child's bedroom, or maybe an early teen's, she couldn't tell very easily.

Posters were hanging on the walls, some of them fallen to the ground and others slowly peeling themselves off the wall and draping to cover the images. The room was a whitish-light blue color, giving a slightly relaxing tone.

She leaned against the wall a bit, startled when she felt something shift under her hand. She lifted it away, seeing a light switch. What startled her more was when the switch actually worked; a soft light came from a bulb in the ceiling fan.

She turned the light off and then back on again in amazement; she had seen light before back at the quarantine zone, but it had never been this… homely.

"We have power!" Kevin's excited voice traveled up the stairs, making her smile. She guessed this was a good find after all; if Kevin said they had power, then that meant they had more than just light.

Her gaze traveled to the far side of the room, taking in a table filled with electronics on it. A TV was sitting in front, making her curious as she walked over to it, slightly mesmerized.

"Hey Kevin! Come look at this!" she shouted, hoping she would grab his attention before he moved too far away.

His footsteps were heard as he ran up the steps, making her smile slightly. She heard him stop in the doorway like she had.

"What is it?" he asked, seeming somewhat confused before she moved to let him see the TV. His eyes lit up at the sight, and he hurriedly joined her beside it.

"Do you know how it works?" she asked, glancing over at him as he looked it over.

"Yeah, I read about how to use one of these once," he said, going to plug something in at the back of the TV, "The other people in the boarding school didn't get why I wanted to read the manual. I was just bored, I guess. Now I know that it's useful for something."

She laughed for a bit before her gaze settled on something white that was connected to the TV. Several white rectangles with buttons on them sat near the larger white box.

"Hey, do you know what this is?" she shook his shoulder to get his attention, and his gaze became confused as he stared down at it.

"Nope, never seen one of those," he answered, bending down to read something, "_'Nintendo'_ Maybe it was a company?"

"Maybe," she muttered, seeing that Kevin had turned the TV on. A black screen that said 'Component' up in the corner greeted them. She glanced down at the "Nintendo", pressing a button that said 'Power'.

The screen lit up for a moment before coming to a black screen with white text. Both her and Kevin grabbed the white rectangles and pressed a button, seeing that they somehow connected to the 'Nintendo'.

"They work," Kevin stated with a nod, and then starting to read what was on the screen, "'Health and Safety Warnings…'"

"We don't need that," she interrupted, pressing another button to bypass the screen. It turned completely white this time, and then went to a screen showing the controllers.

They soon got into a game, seeing that it had shooting targets, Ping-Pong, fishing, cow racing, and other games.

"What about 'Tanks'?" Kevin asked after they had exhausted playing the other games, and she nodded, reading the instructions on the screen before pressing another button.

The words 'Mission 1' appeared on the screen, showing something that looked similar to Ellie and Kevin's heads in mini tanks. Both of them started laughing at the strange sight.

"What kind of game even is this?" Kevin asked, seeing their two tanks and another one on the screen. She assumed that the other tank was their enemy. Three 'walls' separated them from the enemy, providing cover. It kind of reminded her of their journey.

"No idea," she said, starting moving her tank towards the other one. A ticking noise started a moment later, making her look over towards Kevin.

"What is that?"

"No clue. I just pressed a button and-" Kevin's sentence was cut off when something blew his tank up and a blue 'X' marked where he had fallen.

"You blew yourself up?" she asked, not being able to contain her laughter as she stared at the blue 'X'.

"I pressed the wrong button," Kevin argued, making her laugh harder when he mumbled, "I can't believe I died…"

Ellie's gaze traveled back to the screen as she saw that the enemy tank had not moved an inch.

"What's wrong with him?" she pointed to the enemy tank on the screen, wondering maybe if something was wrong with the game.

"Maybe he's glitching?" Kevin suggested, shrugging as he sat around, not sure what to do since he was dead.

"He can't move!" she started laughing again when the realization hit her, making her not able to use the controls to the game.

Kevin started laughing too when the tank fired a bullet at her tank, blowing it up. She just stared wide-eyed at the screen as the mission summary came up.

"I didn't know they could do that."

"What do you think we have the bullets for?" Kevin asked, getting over his laughing fit a bit. Ellie glanced around at the room, and then back at the stairway. Joel was taking a long time, so he either had found a lot of stuff, or he was in trouble.

"I wonder if Joel would be any good at this game," Kevin's statement mirrored her thoughts, "We died on the first level, but he probably grew up with this stuff."

"It's only two players though," she reminded him, knowing they were being a little selfish.

"You're right," Kevin muttered, glancing back at the screen, "We can ask him if he wants to try later tonight."

"Yeah, maybe they'll have a mini-Joel," she laughed a bit again imagining Joel's head in one of the tanks.

"Let's try again," Kevin said as he restarted the game.

This time around, they got through the first four levels, with Kevin somehow blowing himself up in impossible ways in each of the levels. They encountered the trouble when they got to the fifth level.

"This should be easy; there are only two of them," she said, staring at the green tanks on the screen.

"I don't know," Kevin was starting to be skeptical, "they are different colors."

"That shouldn't matter," she replied, moving her tank out from behind cover, "They probably just had different paint colors or something."

Kevin followed her tank out from behind cover and, within a few seconds of starting the level, they were both blown up by speeding missiles.

"How can they do that?" she asked, feeling somewhat angry, "Kevin, check the instructions to see how we can change bullets."

"It only says those three controls," Kevin pointed out, making her realize the unfairness of the game.

"That's cheap."

It took a few tries, but they finally beat the fifth level and continued onward. Ellie was now more skeptical when the tanks changed colors, but Kevin still managed to get himself blown up. She figured he wasn't ever going to be any good at this game.

Thankfully she had survived all the other missions, so they were able to keep going. She guessed that they were getting better; they got past level ten and now where making it a goal to get to level fifteen.

"This isn't that hard; it just takes practice," Kevin commented before the mission started, and she glanced over at him.

"It's not hard because I'm the one doing all the work," her retort made her wonder if this was how Joel felt, considering they weren't as skilled and could possibly get themselves killed like with Kevin's tank blowing up.

They started the level, which consisted of brown, green, and yellow tanks. Ellie knew by now which ones had different bullets and she started to follow after Kevin's tank.

"Kamikaze attack!" Kevin suddenly shouted, making her eyes widen at the unexpected comment.

"What the-?" she started to ask, but her eyes widened when she saw Kevin lay a bomb right next to her and fire a bullet at it, blowing her up.

Kevin dropped his controls as he started laughing, still alive for once but not doing anything.

"You stink!" she shouted, not able to hold her laughter in as she tried to push him out of his seat unsuccessfully.

She heard hurried footsteps from behind them and turned around to see Joel, who had apparently thought that they had been in trouble.

"What are you two-?" Joel started to ask, but then spotted the TV and what they were doing.

"We found it and started playing," Kevin informed him, but then frowned when his tank was blown up, ending the level.

"He blew me up," she pointed at her friend, who playfully swatted her accusing finger away.

Joel shook his head and let out an amused sigh as he walked over towards them. He spotted the rectangle that they had been playing on and gave a slightly amused smile.

"Never thought I would see a Wii again," he commented, making her eyes widen slightly.

"A wee?" she asked, both her and Kevin having a hard time containing their laughter.

"No, a Wii. W I I," Joel had to spell it out for them, but their questioning glances made him somewhat closed on the subject, "I knew someone who wanted one."

"Oh," she said, getting up to turn it off. She racked her memory for anyone she could remember, but she didn't know anyone that Joel had talked about. Then again, her deteriorating memory wasn't helping any.

"Well, come on. We can find something to eat in here and get some rest," Joel said as he left the room.

She glanced over at Kevin as he turned the TV off and then followed Joel out the room.

"So I guess that's a 'no' on him playing?" Kevin asked, making her give an amused shake of her head as an answer.

* * *

So yes, hopefully this was a bit longer and slightly humorous. No lie, but this actually happened to me when I was playing Wii Play with AnimeWolfGirl16 (I got blown up by the "Kamikaze attack"). I am going to try the best I can to get more filler in between fall and Tommy's (considering I could see this happening), but some suggestions would be helpful (if you have any that I could try and fit in). Please tell me what you thought in a review and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

-AnimeWolfGirl9


	13. Plans

**AnimeWolfGirl16:** Yeah, it is still sad that Ellie has figured it out… or has she? And Haha, that is a good idea! Revenge! (Nope, just kidding :) )

**Guest:** Ellie and Kevin were playing Wii Play. Sorry I should have clarified that. It is a really fun game though :)

**rangers123:** Yeah, now they have the Wii U out and I'm just like "I'll stick with the old one." Doesn't seem like seven or so years since it came out though. Haha, now I feel old!

**Madalyn1000:** Good suggestion. I will keep that in mind. Also, it's not necessarily that something needs to change; it's more about another journey. Just thought I would clear that up a bit.

**Wait. .YOU:** Thanks! :)

* * *

Chapter 13: Plans

Ellie was, once again, rummaging through some more drawers in a house (not the same house as the Wii; they had long since moved on from there). They hadn't been able to find some warmer clothes so far, which was proving to be troublesome since the temperature was dropping a degree per day (or at least that's what it felt like).

She started humming a random tune that popped into her head as she skimmed through the clothing in the drawers. They had found a house, this time having three bedrooms: a master bedroom, a teen boy's bedroom, and a girl's bedroom. This gave the three of them clothes to pick through a separate area to try them on.

She went over to the window and closed the blind. It wasn't like anyone was going to be looking through the window at her, but it would still be creepy if an Infected saw her changing clothes.

She banished the thought from her head, shuddering for a moment at the mental image. In the end, she found a new pair of jeans, another long-sleeved shirt, and a pink and white jacket.

_This should work for a while,_ she thought, sitting down on the bed. She figured that Joel and Kevin wouldn't be done yet, so she had time to spare.

Her gaze traveled across the dimly lit room, covered in old photos and peeling wallpaper. The room was done in the color red, with faded old bed sheets and pillows for her to lie on.

She looked in drawers and under the bed for a diary to read, but didn't find any. It always was interesting to see how someone viewed the time before she was born, but she didn't have that kind of luck today.

She stood up and grabbed her backpack, bringing it over to the bed and stuffing her lighter, old clothes into it. She figured that she should wear the new ones because of the temperature dropping.

_And this is my one chance of privacy,_ she thought, frowning a bit as she sat back down on the bed.

For some reason, she felt restless today, and having nothing to do didn't help things any. She didn't know why she felt this way; maybe it was just because of the constant traveling.

She thought about taking a short nap before they would move on, but thought better of it; she would just be getting to sleep and then it would be interrupted, making things worse.

Her mind wandered backwards to the day after they had found the house with the Wii.

_"Do you think we can take it with us?" Kevin asked in a whispered voice. They had woken up before Joel, leaving him in his mumbling dream state to go back to the Wii._

_ "I don't think so," she replied, staring at the electronic device with a frown, "Where would we put it? And how would we even play it?"_

_ "I could store the Wii and remotes in my backpack. I have room," Kevin seemed to be trying to convince himself more than her._

_ "What about the TV? I don't think we can play it without that."_

_ "I think they used to make portable game systems back before the outbreak; I think I read that somewhere."_

_ "I don't think this is one of those 'portable' ones though."_

_ "Well, you could carry the TV," Kevin quickly changed his suggestion at her glare, "Or I could carry it."_

_ "We wouldn't have electricity either way and if it gets wet, it will be dead anyway. This isn't going to work," Ellie was now hoping that he would just leave it here; as much fun as the game had been, they couldn't spend any time playing it in case someone or something dangerous would find them._

_ "You're right," Kevin gave a defeated sigh; "It still stinks though."_

Ellie let out a small laugh, realizing how silly and childish they had been acting. It was only normal though; neither of them had really had a proper childhood, or maybe even what was close to being considered "proper" after the outbreak.

"Ready to get going?" Kevin suddenly burst into the room, making her stand up from the bed in surprise. She felt a bit of annoyance at him that almost turned into anger.

"Kevin, what would have happened if I would have been changing?" she asked, knowing that he could see the frown and slight glare she was giving him.

"Uh…" Kevin's face turned red in embarrassment and then he put his hands over his eyes, "Shield your eyes!"

She shook her head; feeling slightly amused, and walked over towards him, tapping his shoulder on the way out the door. He seemed somewhat confused as to where she had gone, but then he realized that she had already left and followed the direction she had gone.

Joel was standing by the front door and she gave him a nod as she went to stand next to him. Kevin joined them shortly after, and they set out walking again.

Ellie couldn't help but notice that something was on Kevin's mind; his shoes were somewhat dragging in the dirt and he had a serious expression directed towards the ground.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, waving her hand in front of his face to get his attention. He seemed somewhat surprised at first, but he recovered quickly.

"Nope; I'm just thinking about something," he replied with a shake of his head, making her even more confused.

Usually, she wouldn't pry, but he seemed to be almost bothered by whatever he was thinking about, and she knew that wasn't good.

"Do you want to tell me about it?"

At her question, he seemed to relax a bit, but his eyes were downcast at the ground still, this time in a slightly nervous gaze.

"I was just wondering… since you're immune too… well… you're traveling to the Fireflies with us, right?" her friend didn't seem like he was doing too well at explaining his thoughts, and his 'explanation' made her somewhat more confused.

"Yeah, why?" she asked, wondering if he had forgotten. She had decided to come with them to the Fireflies weeks ago.

"I'm going to the Fireflies since I'm immune. Joel was tasked with bringing me to them, but we weren't supposed to go this far. Something happened…" Kevin trailed off for a moment, seemingly lost in his memories before continuing, "Joel's brother was a Firefly. Joel figures that his brother would know where to take me. Marlene said something about me being the cure to the fungus-"

"Marlene?" Ellie cut him off, feeling an almost overwhelming feeling come over her as her throat closed up a bit.

_Kevin knows Marlene?_ The thought seemed almost absurd. Marlene had never mentioned about anyone else being immune to her, and she had never met Kevin before in Boston; _I just can't figure this out._

"Yeah, she's the leader of the Fireflies. I was thinking that maybe you would like to help too. You know, maybe having more than one sample of immunity would provide for a better vaccine and all…" Kevin at first didn't take notice of her change in mood, but he trailed off as he stared at her, looking somewhat worried, "Are you alright? You look kind of pale."

"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied, feeling a bit out of breath. Kevin seemed to look a bit saddened as Joel glanced back at her, taking in her condition.

"It's alright. You don't have to go if you don't want to… I just thought…" Kevin continued, looking off to the side with a hurt expression on his face.

Joel stopped walking, and she knew that he was trying to make them think he hadn't heard their exchange.

"We can stop here for a moment. I'm going to see if anyone could follow our tracks or if there is anything to hunt," he informed them. Kevin nodded, still not looking at her as he sat down on a log.

Joel left to do as he had said, leaving them alone. Ellie figured he had left to give them time to sort things out. Joel had never been the best when it came to words or emotions, but he was improving.

Ellie walked over and sat down beside Kevin, humming another random tune. She wondered why he seemed so bothered. She felt like she had gotten over most of her shock, so maybe she had just scared him a bit?

She racked her brain for answers, but couldn't find any.

_What is bothering him now? What did I do?_ She wondered, glancing at him from where she was sitting.

She thought back to his questions and how seemingly nervous but excited he had been, and then the answer hit her. He had misunderstood why she had seemed so shocked.

"Kevin, I wasn't pale because of what you were asking," she started, feeling somewhat awkward. Joel could be listening, but then she wondered why that even mattered, "It's just kind of a shock to hear about Marlene."

"You know her?" It was Kevin's turn to be shocked when she nodded; his eyes widened in slight confusion, "She never mentioned you."

"Same here," she answered with a sigh, not getting any closer to figuring out the answer to her problem.

They stayed silent for a moment, listening to the sounds around them. Ellie was lost in thought for a moment, but then she decided to tell Kevin her answer to his questions.

"Would it be alright if I came with you?" she asked and then added, "To the Fireflies, I mean. The idea of having two people who are immune does seem more successful."

"That would be great!" Kevin replied quickly as his eyes lit up and a smile appeared on his face, "Maybe we could become famous for saving the world or something like that. Be in a comic, maybe?"

She laughed at his rambling ideas, and they continued talking until Joel came back with a few rabbits and a squirrel. They made a quick fire after skinning the animals and then ate, moving on shortly after.

She smiled as she listened to Kevin talk excitedly with Joel about their new 'plans'.

* * *

Another shorter chapter, I know, but these are fillers. I am enjoying writing these, but I must admit that I am running short on ideas for fillers. If anyone has something they might like to see, then please feel free to send it in and I can see if it will fit in with the storyline (would anyone believe me if I told you that I already have the ending sentence of this fanfiction planned out?). I will try to get the next chapter out as quick as I can, but until then please tell me what you thought (as well as any suggestions) in a review!

-AnimeWolfGirl9


	14. This Feeling

**Salve-SiS:** I am definitely going to keep that in mind! Thanks for the suggestion! :)

**Madalyn1000:** Yes, that is going to be very interesting. You will just have to wait till the end to find out how :)

**rangers123:** By "true intentions", do you mean about the ending (as in the one from the game and what happens)? If so, than that is not necessarily true. Ellie was passed out since nearly drowning, so she doesn't know what happened. And even thought she "knows" that Joel was lying, she is forgetting what happened on her (first) journey.

**AnimeWolfGirl16:** That's alright, and thanks!

**Guest:** Thanks! :)

* * *

Chapter 14: This Feeling

Kevin glanced over at Ellie for what seemed to be the hundredth time that day. He didn't know why he kept doing it, but it was starting to freak him out.

He didn't know what he thought about her; his opinion changed every few days or so. She had stopped avoiding him, which made him feel better since he hadn't known why she had been in the first place.

He knew that she was definitely his friend, but sometimes he wanted a better word to describe her; he just didn't know what that word was yet.

A frown appeared on his face as he thought. Sometimes, a feeling would just appear out of nowhere, making him somewhat frightened and confused when he thought about it. He had a hard time speaking to Ellie, which was mostly because she could punch him if he said something wrong, but there seemed to be another reason.

He sometimes wouldn't know what to say around her; his mind would suddenly go blank, making both of them frustrated that he couldn't remember what he was going to say or ask her.

It seemed almost amazing that she was immune to the fungus as well. Now if only Joel was immune, then their 'family' wouldn't be able to be harmed by the Infected.

Yes, that's what he had dubbed their small group: a family. He thought it fit, but knew that Joel and maybe even Ellie would disagree with him if he said it out loud. So he kept his thoughts to himself most of the time, being careful with what he said.

He trusted Joel now more than in the beginning, but he was still somewhat guarded. He was almost sure that Ellie was the reason their family relationship was getting better, but he couldn't be quite sure.

A small intake of breath from Ellie made him look over at her. She was staring up at the trees, a look of amazement on her face as she stared at them.

He was confused by the sudden act at first; she had seen more than her fair share of trees on their journey, but then he realized _what_ she was looking at.

"Why are they doing that?" he asked, pointing at the leaves, which were starting to change from their original shade of green to shades of orange and red.

"I don't know," Ellie answered, a frown on her face, "Nothing like this ever happened in the quarantine zones."

He nodded, knowing exactly what she meant. The majority of the trees in the Boston quarantine zone had been dead; no leaves or fruit grew on them, so the trees just stayed dead year round.

Kevin hadn't ever walked in a forest until they had gotten just beyond the capitol building, right when they had met Ellie…

It had seemed somewhat of a coincidence that they had met her in the forest. If they would have gone any further and hadn't bumped into her, she might have been killed by something.

Looking back at their journey so far, he was glad they had asked her to come with them. Well, "asked" was a bit of a strong word; it was more Ellie had forced them to let her come with them, but he had tried to help.

If he had to be honest with himself, Kevin had to admit that he was a bit skeptical at first of her traveling with them. Even though he had been the one to suggest it, a feeling of wariness had stuck around until after they left Bill's Town.

Thankfully it had disappeared on the ride to Pittsburgh, but the one thing that had convinced him to try and let Ellie come with them was his own fears. Like Ellie, he was afraid of being alone, and somehow unconsciously knew that she had feared it as well.

"We could ask Joel about the leaves," Ellie suggested, pulling him out of his thoughts. He nodded, and they increased their walking pace to catch up to their guardian.

"Hey Joel? Why are the leaves changing color?" Kevin asked, motioning to the trees with confusion.

Joel at first seemed to think they were kidding, but after a moment he came to the truth that they weren't. He sighed, thinking for a moment.

"The trees go through a life cycle. Near fall, the leaves die and the trees enter a hibernation of sorts. The leaves then grow back in the spring," Joel explained, and Kevin looked at the trees with new respect.

Sure, humans and animals survived the winter, but that was normally with the aid of something. Plants needed warmth and sunlight, which was most likely robbed from them during winter. It was amazing how they still survived.

"That makes sense," he heard Ellie mumble with a nod. They fell silent again, slipping into their routine of listening for danger and walking.

He heard Ellie start to hum. It seemed to be something she did often, almost as if it were a habit, but it wasn't like he was complaining. He actually enjoyed it, even though she most likely did not know he heard her. He thought that if she had learned to sing, it would sound very pretty.

He stopped his thoughts, staring at the ground and seeing that some of the leaves had already fallen to the ground.

_Fall is definitely getting closer,_ he thought, wondering how the world would look once winter came.

Kevin knew what winter looked like; it wasn't like it was non-existent in the quarantine zone, he just figured it would look better without all the dirtiness and guards polluting the place.

"Did you do a lot of walking before the outbreak?" he asked the question before it even had time to register in his mind, making him somewhat worried that Joel would be angry.

"Yeah, I used to do a bit of hiking," Joel answered shortly, and Kevin knew that his question almost put a bad tone to their traveling.

_I have to be more careful with what I say,_ he thought, worrying a bit.

So that's what Kevin did, staying silent throughout the rest of the day as Ellie chatted on to both of them about jokes or the comic series and any other random thing that came to mind. He almost envied her in that: her ability to almost have no care in the world.

Even though he appeared that way on the outside, his thoughts were much different. He knew that he had to be the uplifting one most of the time, even if no one else would.

They walked until they came to a small cave, big enough to fit the three of them comfortably but no room for another person. It made him feel slightly better that there would be no Infected in the cave. Even though he was immune, it seemed to be another thing he was afraid about, ever since back in Pittsburgh.

His thoughts soon cut off and he found himself drifting off to sleep.

Kevin awoke what he thought was several hours later feeling panicked. His breathing was shaky and he felt somewhat warm. He felt like someone was missing, and the panicked feeling sunk in again.

He quickly got up and left the cave as quietly as he could, looking around at the dark forest. Some sort of reason was trying to make him stay in the shelter of the cave, but the panicked feeling was too much for him to handle.

_I have my rifle, so I'll be safe. Now, where did she go?_ He gave one last look back at Joel and Ellie sleeping before walking into the forest to search for his objective.

* * *

Ellie woke up with a headache while it was still dark. Something had disturbed her, but she didn't know what. The answer was revealed when she felt an empty spot beside her.

_Where is Kevin?_ She wondered, her eyes now adjusted to the dark as she stared over at Joel, who was sleeping on the other side of the cave. Kevin had been between them, dozing off before anyone else had, but now he was gone.

"Kevin?" she whispered, getting up and walking out to the entrance of the cave. She looked back at Joel, making sure she wasn't waking him up as she grabbed her backpack and drew her pistol.

Her friend wasn't at the entrance of the small cave either, making her worried.

_Does he sleep walk?_ She thought back to the nights they all had spent together near a campfire or inside of a small shed, knowing that if Kevin had a habit of sleep walking, then he hadn't done it before.

"Kevin?" she called again, this time more loudly to see if maybe he was just going to the bathroom or something. Once again, she didn't get an answer, prompting her to walk a bit further into the forest.

She shivered as the darkness seemed to swallow her, trapping her in on all sides. She knew she shouldn't be afraid, but the Infected could be more active at night, and she didn't like being alone.

_Kevin's afraid of being alone too, so why did he wander off?_ The question stuck in her mind as she continued her search.

"Where are you?" Kevin's voice suddenly asked, echoing off of the trees up ahead. She stopped for a moment, taking in the position of where his voice came from, and wandered towards it.

"Kevin?" she asked, walking into a small clearing where the trees weren't as tightly wound together as before, "What are you doing out here?"

Kevin turned around, somewhat startled at her voice, but seemed to relax a bit when he recognized her. He still seemed on-edge though.

"Ellie, do you know where she went?" Kevin asked, making her confused. He seemed somewhat scared and worried, but his behavior seemed off as well.

"Where who went?"

"The girl; the one with short blonde hair," he replied, making her even more confused.

"I didn't see anyone," she shook her head, knowing he wasn't making sense. They were alone out here. There weren't any girls with blonde hair as far as she knew of.

"She ran into the woods. The Infected were chasing after her. I heard them," Kevin explained, sounding even more frantic as each second flew by.

"Kevin, I don't think there are any Infected around here. Joel would have woken up and I haven't heard anything," she was starting to get worried. Was Kevin seeing things?

Kevin seemed confused at this as well, but some sad understanding came into his eyes a moment later.

"Oh. It must have been a dream," his voice was now a soft whisper as he stared at the ground, "but it seemed so real…"

"They all do," she replied, feeling a bit better now that she knew he had just had a nightmare.

Silence enveloped them for a few minutes as they stood in silence, staring at each other as the moon shone through the trees a bit.

"I think we should be getting back," she suggested at last, feeling cold and somewhat wanting to get back to the cave. They had another long day of walking tomorrow, and it wouldn't be good if they didn't get any sleep.

"Yeah," Kevin nodded, following after her for a moment before stopping, "Hey Ellie?"

She stopped, turning around to see him looking a bit nervous at what he was about to say.

"Thanks for, uh, coming with us and all. Things keep getting weird, but it helps to know that you're still there when I wake up," Kevin started, seemingly wanting to say more, "I, uh…"

He trailed off, and she wasn't sure if she saw a blush appear on his face or not. The darkness of night was making it hard to tell, even with the moon being almost full.

"Yeah, we should get back," Kevin nodded, whispering a bit to himself as he followed her, repeating her idea that she had suggested a moment before.

They arrived back at the cave quickly and got settled again. Kevin drifted off to sleep easily, but Ellie was left with her thoughts.

Who was the girl that Kevin had been talking about? And had it really only been just a dream?

* * *

Another glimpse into Kevin's mind! Don't worry; Joel's POV will appear in this sooner or later (possibly before we get to Tommy's but definitely at Tommy's there will be at least one part). Either way, this chapter idea was brought on by a reviewer's suggestion (Thanks _Salve-SiS_!). Things keep getting stranger, what with Kevin suddenly disappearing in the middle of the night thinking he saw a girl. What could have brought on this strange change of behavior? And I know I have been pulling a "Survivors" on you guys (updating nearly a chapter every day for the past few chapters like I did with my first Last of Us fanfiction), which does make writing this fanfiction a bit easier. Please tell me what you thought in a review!

-AnimeWolfGirl9


	15. Two Parts, One Whole?

**Salve-SiS:** She is not done yet in this fanfiction either (and I have an explanation for that at the end)! She is a really well-made character as well. Naughty Dog did an amazing job with making you actually care for her considering how much of the game she was actually in.

**Guest:** Maybe, we will just have to see (the next few chapters might have some answers though).

**Madalyn1000:** Thanks! I am trying to not make it completely like the game, but still similar enough so that there are the more main events.

* * *

Chapter 15: Two Parts, One Whole?

_Ellie was starting to wonder if she was ever going to be somewhere else than the abandoned mall; the place brought back too many unwanted memories, and she just wanted to be someplace different for once._

_ "Riley, what do I need to do this time?" she asked, feeling weary of the constant switching back and forth. She was even wondering if she got any sleep during these 'sessions'._

_ "Nothing," she was startled when she heard an unfamiliar voice; one that was definitely not Riley's._

_ She turned around, seeing a girl she didn't recognize. The girl was wearing a black long sleeved shirt and a white short sleeved shirt, blue jeans, and an old pair of tennis shoes. The feature that stood out the most to her was the girl's short, blonde hair._

_ "Have you been bothering my friend?" she demanded, knowing that Kevin was now having several incidents like the last one, not being left alone by the girl with blonde hair._

_ The girl laughed sweetly, motioning with her hand._

_ "Follow me. I want to show you something," the girl said, starting to jog off in the opposite direction of the mall._

_ Ellie's eyes widened, wondering who exactly this girl was and what she wanted. She followed after the girl, admitting that the younger girl did have a considerable amount of stamina._

_ What was bothering her most, however, was that the girl seemed familiar. She had no idea where she could have seen her; Ellie was born after the outbreak, and the girl seemed too nice to have grown up in a boarding school._

Either she's extremely lucky and had a sheltered childhood, or all these dead people keep appearing in my dreams;_ the thought made her slightly creeped out if the latter was true._

_ The thought also made sadness enter her as she stared at the girl, realizing that if she was dead, then she died at too young of an age._

_ "Doesn't everyone though?" she whispered, and the girl looked back at her with compassion._

_ "We're almost there. Don't worry; I know you're going to love it," the girl's words comforted her a bit, and she wondered if it was some kind of weird effect._

_ Ellie continued to jog behind the girl and almost went further than expected. The girl stopped in front of a mirror that went from the bottom of the floor almost to the top. The mirror was in perfect condition, which seemed strange since it should be at least deteriorating after twenty years._

I don't remember this being here last time. Then again, I didn't explore the entire mall with Riley, just some of it,_ she stared curiously at the mirror, not going any closer and keeping her distance._

_ The girl seemed to notice this and motioned with her hand for Ellie to come forward, towards the mirror._

_ "Come on," the girl insisted, and then laughed at Ellie's hesitance still, a bit amused this time as she continued, "It's not going to bite."_

_ Ellie walked forward, standing beside the girl and giving her a questioning look. The girl pointed at the mirror, smiling._

_ Ellie looked in the mirror, feeling a bit startled at what she saw. She had expected to see her reflection, like in a normal mirror, but instead she saw Kevin._

_ "Kevin?" she asked, but stopped when the reflection mirrored her movements. Kevin's voice asked at the same time "Ellie?" and stopped at the same time as well._

_ "I don't… understand," she looked at the girl, hearing 'Kevin' say and do the same thing._

_ "You don't understand?" the girl asked, frowning a bit and then walking a few paces away from the mirror, returning a moment later, "There used to be this old story my daddy used to tell me. Do you want to hear it?"_

_ Ellie figured she didn't have much of a choice, so she nodded her head. It wasn't like refusing would get her anywhere soon._

_ "There is always two parts to something; two opposites that make something whole again. It's sort of like the sun and moon. He used to say something about balance, but I would doze off at points. It was supposed to be a story to get me to go to sleep, which it worked well enough, but I believe it now," the girl said, staring at her and then the reflection._

_ Ellie stared at 'Kevin' through the mirror, the girl's words both confusing her and making her understand at the same time._

_ "Wait, so you mean to say that Kevin is really my-"_

"Ellie, it's time to get up," Kevin's voice sliced through her dream, cutting off contact with her made up world. She bolted awake, glaring at him a bit when a sick feeling ran through her.

She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, annoyed that her dream was now fuzzy from the forced awakening. Something about a girl and a story?

_I'll figure it out later;_ she stretched a bit as she stood up, feeling as though the night had flown by.

The air already had some briskness to it, making her sigh from knowing that the day wouldn't be pleasant. Storm clouds were already threatening overhead, signaling that rain would be coming soon.

"More rain?" Kevin mumbled with a tired sigh. She glanced over at him as they gathered their things, wondering how to explain her dream to him.

Every time now that he had a dream about the blonde haired girl, he would describe it to her and they would work through it. Now she figured they could do the same with possibly the same girl's appearance in her dreams.

"Hey Kevin," she walked beside him as they continued traveling forward, "What did the girl look like?"

Kevin looked at her strange, almost as if she had grown two heads.

"You forgot? She had blonde hair and-"

"No, I meant can you draw her?" she interrupted him, not feeling much patience. Sure, descriptions were fine, but having a visual might help a bit.

Her friend sat his backpack down, calling to Joel "one moment" before rummaging through it. He produced a small sketch pad and pencil a moment later.

"Did she look like this?" Ellie took the paper and pencil from him, drawing to the best of her ability. The picture came out sort of right, but seemed more like a chibi version of the girl she had seen in her dream.

"She looked more like…" Kevin trailed off as he started drawing. By the time the picture was done, it looked more like someone had taken it with a camera than drawn it.

_Kevin gets the drawing skills?_ She thought, a bit envious when she compared their two pictures.

What was scary though was that Kevin's picture was the exact one of the girl in her dreams. She tugged at his sleeve, pointing at the picture.

"She was in my dream too."

Her friend seemed kind of shocked, glancing at Joel who was standing a few feet away.

"Should we ask Joel if he's seen her too?" Kevin asked, bringing up a good point.

"Maybe. It might help."

They walked over towards Joel, and Ellie got the feeling that this was going to be a very bad idea. Her fears were confirmed a few moments later however.

"Joel, have you seen this girl?" Kevin asked, showing Joel the picture. Their guardian seemed to change in one instant, his expression becoming cold and stern.

"Where did you-?" Joel started to ask, sounding a bit angry, but Kevin cut him off.

"I've been dreaming about her, and apparently Ellie has been too," Kevin tried to explain quickly, realizing what they had both feared was coming true.

Joel closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as if calming himself. It took a few moments, but her heart was fluttering wildly from some kind of fear.

"Let's just keep moving," Joel said at last, starting to walk at a slightly faster pace than normal. It wasn't anything they couldn't keep up with, but the motivation behind it seemed strange.

"Bad idea?" Kevin whispered as they struggled to keep up with Joel a bit. She shrugged and then nodded, afraid that if she said anything then the situation could be made far worse than it was.

They walked in silence for a bit, listening to the sounds around them and afraid to ignite Joel's fury a second time. Not far into the day though, the rain began to fall like a heavy blanket.

"Ah man," she heard Kevin mutter as they were drenched within seconds.

The forest had slimmed a bit and they were now following an old dirt path leading to who-knows-where. They had crossed the border into Wyoming a few days ago, getting ever closer to their goal, or at least they hoped so. Joel's brother could have moved on a long time ago.

Another problem was that no shelter was in sight; even the trees couldn't provide much protection from the rain, so they were forced to continue walking, either until the rain stopped or they found better shelter.

_Why does this need to happen now?_ She wondered, shivering a bit as she felt the cold seep in through her jacket. The jacket had been good for fall weather, but none of them had anticipated a heavy rain in the beginning of fall.

"Just what we needed," she muttered, trying to keep her gaze on Joel so that she wouldn't get lost in the storm.

She was thankful there wasn't any lightening, only rain and the occasional thunder in the distance. The storm didn't last for long though; it soon let up as the clouds rolled away.

Ellie looked up at the land in front of them, seeing something in the distance. It was too far away to tell exactly what it was, so she squinted to try and see better, but that was unsuccessful as well.

The land opened up to let them follow a river now, which she guessed either led up to the unidentifiable object in the distance or was coming from it. She couldn't tell.

"What do you think that is?" Kevin asked, pointing at what she had seen.

"No idea," she thought about adding, "Maybe we should ask Joel", but Kevin beat her to it. He increased his pace and caught up to the older man.

"Hey Joel, do you know what that is?" Kevin asked, pointing at the object in the distance that was slowly becoming closer.

"It might be some kind of dam," Joel mumbled, staring at the object and then at the river.

"Should we go around it?" she asked, "Someone could be there."

Joel shook his head, giving both of them a look.

"We have to go through it to get to the rest of the state, so we're just going to have to take our chances. Looks abandoned anyway."

Ellie continued to follow behind them, getting another feeling that this wasn't going to end well.

* * *

I hate to say it, but this is the last chapter of the in-between. Next chapter will be starting out at the hydroelectric dam, following closer to the game. I just can't draw it out any longer and feel like this is a good continuing point. I am hoping that you guys aren't disappointed, but I felt that this at least bridged some of the gap between Pittsburgh and Wyoming. We also have a lot of plot twists and some backstories coming up soon, so look forward to that! Please tell me what you thought in a review!

-AnimeWolfGirl9


	16. The Girl

**Salve-SiS:** I agree with you on that :)

**Wait. .YOU:** Yep, you're right! :) I was trying to see if I could hide it until this chapter, but Joel's reaction kind of made it obvious.

**Madalyn1000:** Things are definitely going to get interesting from here on out :)

**rangers123:** Yeah, I was trying to find a way to word it in the sense that it wouldn't be copying the yin-yang story, but I had to make it similar enough as well. And hope you have fun at college!

**Guest:** You are right about the girl, but what Ellie learned in her dream will be revealed next chapter.

**Guest:** Thanks! Sorry for the delay!

* * *

Chapter 16: The Girl

Ellie couldn't stop herself from being surprised when they actually got to the object in the distance. Joel had been right when saying that it was a dam, but she still felt slightly overwhelmed by the size of it. By the looks of it, the dam actually looked like it was still running.

"How is it still working after all these years?" she asked Joel, having to raise her voice a bit because of the roaring waters making it harder to hear.

"It's a hydroelectric dam; it runs on water," Joel explained when Kevin had trouble saying the word 'hydroelectric'.

Joel led them into what looked to be the control office, turning some kind of wheel that allowed them to lower one side of the 'bridge' that would let them across. The main problem for Ellie and Kevin was that water separated them from the other wheel. Joel couldn't just swim across; the ledge was too high for him to be able to swim and pull himself up, so they had to try and find something to help.

"I don't see anything like a-" Kevin started to say, shaking his head, but Joel quickly interrupted his sentence.

"I'm going to check under the water," Joel informed them, "There might be something down there that we can use."

Ellie saw what he was referencing to: a dark spot could be seen through the water, most likely some kind of wreckage that sunk to the bottom of the dam.

"I don't think that's such a good idea," Kevin didn't get to finish half of his sentence when Joel dove under the water, leaving them in silence. Her friend was shaking a bit, and she felt sorry for him, wishing that she could help.

Kevin had admitted to her that, ever since he had the dream about drowning a few months ago on the trip to Pittsburgh, he now had a slight fear of water; fear of drowning on his own, and then fear of anyone else drowning, friend or foe. She guessed that Joel almost drowning back in the hotel didn't help any.

"He'll be alright," she placed a hand on his shoulder for comfort, and soon Joel surfaced with a pallet that had been wedged in the debris.

The pallet was soggy and worn from being underwater, and Kevin looked unsure of getting on it. The piece of wood looked like it could only fit one person anyways.

"I'll go," she volunteered, knowing that Kevin wouldn't be able to handle it right now. She walked onto the pallet and leaned down a bit, grabbing the edges for support as Joel pushed it over to the other side.

"Just turn the wheel until it lowers and wait for us on the other side," Joel instructed and she hid her smile until he had his back turned, swimming back to the other side.

"I know," she shouted over to him, turning the wheel and lowering her side of the 'bridge'.

Kevin and Joel waited until the 'bridge' was steady enough to come over, joining her on the other side and they continued their journey. She had to admit that the dam was even more breathtaking on the other side.

Water flowed from the river and ran beside them, down towards where they had come. The water reflected off the sunlight, giving it a bit of a glare.

The walkway ended, letting them walk in grass again. Trees were scattered more scarcely than the forest they had been in, giving them a bit more room to spread out.

A small drop off caught her attention on the left and she walked towards it, despite Joel's attempts at making her stay "on course". She jumped down the small ledge, seeing the river in the background as she landed and walked over to a small mound of settling dirt.

"A grave," Kevin whispered, making a solemn air settle around them. Ellie bit her lip, feeling the weight of the toy robot she had taken for Sam in her backpack.

"I forgot to leave it on his grave," she muttered, spying the teddy bear on the small grave in front of them and being reminded of back in Pittsburgh.

"Come on; let's keep moving," Joel motioned towards their course after a few moments of silence and they left the grave, Ellie feeling worse than she had in days.

They walked up through the forest-like area and came to a concrete wall blocking their path.

"Just perfect," Joel muttered, walking towards the gate and trying to get it open, but with no success. With the way it seemed to close when he tried to pull it towards him, it was almost as if the gate was locked from the inside…

Guns clicked above them, prompting her to pull out her pistol and aim it at the sound. About five people stood above them on the wall, looking tense at the sign of supposed intruders.

"Please tell me you're lost," a woman demanded and then spotted Joel reaching for his gun, "Don't even think about it and tell them to put their guns on the ground!"

Ellie was almost surprised by the demand; the woman acted like she was used to giving orders. She sort of reminded her of Tess.

"Ellie, Kevin, drop your guns," Joel repeated with caution in his voice, most likely translating as "do what she says or we will be dead".

She complied, placing her pistol back in its holder though, not on the ground. She figured it would be a compromise. Kevin, on the other hand, dropped his gun and it fell in a puddle with a loud splash.

"We didn't know anyone was here," Joel started to explain, trying to make peace before their heads were blown off, "We just need to get through."

"Where are you going?" the woman demanded, but then Ellie heard another voice say something from the inside of the wall. She couldn't make out what it was, but Joel's face turned almost surprised.

"You know them?" the woman motioned to their group of three to someone on the inside, and Ellie finally heard the voice as the gate opened a bit.

"Not all of them, but I know him," a man walked out, motioning towards Joel, "He's my brother."

_Awkward,_ she thought, feeling somewhat out of place as Joel and his brother reunited. She stood near Kevin, who picked up his gun and put it away with somewhat shaky movements. She could understand why; even though the man was Joel's brother, they didn't know if he could be trusted.

The woman came down from the wall and the other people went someplace where she couldn't see, making her inwardly nervous. Where had they gone?

"Sorry for the hostilities," the woman apologized, smiling warmly now but still with an air of dominance, "My name is Maria. I'm Tommy's wife."

"I'm Kevin, and that's Ellie," Kevin introduced them, motioning towards her with his hand. He seemed a bit more relaxed now, making her frown slightly.

"How did you two end up with Joel anyway?" Maria asked them, making her even more uncomfortable on the inside. She hoped that the older woman didn't notice.

"That's kind of a long story," she answered, shrugging a bit as she rubbed her wrist. Maria seemed to understand her unease.

_Or maybe two stories,_ she thought as they started walking through the gate and into what looked to be a small settlement out of one of the older books she had read.

Something seemed familiar about the place, and it struck her that she might have been here with Joel _might_ have, but she now found that she could no longer remember the events, only emotions possibly connected to them.

"Well, all stories around here seem long and are always worth the time to hear them. Are you hungry?" Maria asked, easing the tension a bit and Ellie found herself becoming more trusting.

"Starving," both her and Kevin answered at the same time, prompting her to look at him.

It seemed as though that they had been either finishing each other's sentences or saying the same thing at the same time since she had the dream about the blonde haired girl. She wasn't sure if she was just noticing it more because of what had been revealed during the dream or if it had just started recently, but either was it was creeping her out a bit.

Maria laughed at their combined answer while Kevin blushed in embarrassment.

"We can fix that then. We'll head to the dining room and get you guys some food then," the older woman stated as the gates were closed behind them.

"Thanks, that would be-" Kevin's statement was cut off when he looked ahead at something, "Wow."

Ellie glanced ahead and realized what he was staring at; her eyes widened as she felt the breath go out of her a bit.

"Horses," Kevin whispered, walking towards the animals as she followed, feeling almost like she was in a trance.

"Yeah," was the only thing she could think to say. Her brain wasn't working, and its only goal right then was to not scare the horses. Well, that and not to fall on her face from exhaustion.

Joel came up to stand near them and started to pet the horse, showing them how not to spook it.

"Haven't you ever seen one before?" His question made perfect sense; there weren't horses in the quarantine zone, but she had seen one at the mall…

"I've seen one, I just never get tired of it," Kevin answered and she nodded, agreeing with him.

They soon had to move on though, leaving the horses behind as their 'tour' of the settlement continued. Ellie found the whole thing fascinating.

They had just entered one of the main buildings that led to the dining room, which Maria had informed them about, when Maria got a call in on her walkie-talkie.

Ellie didn't get to hear the conversation on the other end; she only heard Tommy's response.

"I'll go. It's my turn anyway," Joel's brother answered, walking towards another door that led somewhere different from where they were going.

"I'll come with you," Joel volunteered, making her feel nervous all over again. He was just going to leave them with complete strangers? Well, not quite strangers to him, but it was still similar.

"Joel," she started to say, half pleading as she stopped and stared at him. She didn't feel comfortable being around so many people with so many secrets to hide.

_What if they find out about us being immune?_ The thought made her aware of the fact that she was rubbing her wrist again.

"You'll be fine," Joel answered, not so much reassuring her. Maria seemed to sense this.

"We can go get something to eat and those two will join us when they're done," she explained, making some of the nervousness go away.

"So, what is Tommy going to check on anyway?" Kevin asked, a look of full curiosity on his face. Ellie had to keep herself from laughing.

"One of the generators died a few days ago and we have a team working on getting it running again. Tommy is going to oversee the preparations and then we're going to turn it on," Maria answered as they walked down another hallway. She then heard the older woman whisper, "Let's hope it works this time."

She wasn't really sure if she should have heard it, but she figured that there was no harm in it. So a generator meant that they had power…

"Here we are," Maria's voice cut her thoughts off as the older woman motioned at the room they were in.

A mix of tables and chairs were set up around the room, and a backroom was where she guessed the food was stored. The room kind of reminded her of the pictures she had seen of school cafeterias.

Maria went to go get food, while she sat down at a table with Kevin. It felt somewhat awkward, considering they hadn't sat down at something like a table to eat for a long time, but also somewhat normal.

Kevin was starting to look almost as nervous as she felt, and she guessed it was for the same reasons too. Maria soon came back with the food though, which made their worries melt away for the time being.

"So, have you ever met Joel before we came here?" Kevin asked as he started eating his soup, curious like she was about Joel's 'sister-in-law'.

"No, but I heard a lot about him from Tommy," Maria answered, making her curious.

"Like what?" she asked, wondering if Joel's brother was more open to talking and explanations than he was; he sure gave that kind of first impression.

"Just about times growing up, the outbreak, how they split paths-" Maria was probably half-way through her explanation before Ellie interrupted her.

"You mean actual stories from the beginning of the outbreak?" she asked, her excitement getting the better of her normally more mature behavior. The closest she had gotten to stories from the outbreak would be back in the Suburbs in Pittsburgh, but she didn't want to think about that now.

"Joel hasn't told you anything?" Maria asked, an almost disbelieving look on her face. Kevin and Ellie shared a glance and then both shook their heads, hoping a story was coming on. Maria sighed and then continued,

"Well, I'm assuming that this isn't really my place to tell, but he probably was going to tell you anyway. Joel and Tommy both lived in Texas before the outbreak, and Joel had a daughter named Sarah."

"Sarah?" Ellie echoed, feeling as if the name were familiar. She wanted a picture in her mind, but was afraid of interrupting and ruining the story moment.

"Yep, that was her name. Tommy said she was one of the sweetest girls around and, now that I think about it, she was a lot like you Ellie. She wasn't into real girly things like clothes and makeup, but was more of an outdoors kind of girl. Tommy said Joel used to go to as many of her soccer games as possible," Maria's explanation reminded her a bit of the soccer ball back in the sewers, but she continued listening, "The night of the outbreak, Tommy and Joel were trying to get Sarah out of the neighborhood. Joel's neighbor apparently was turning into one of the Infected and attacked him, but he was able to get away. They were driving out of the city at first, but then the car apparently got overturned and they had to escape on foot. I'm not quite sure of everything that happened next; Tommy said that they got trapped in a building with the Infected chasing them, and he told Joel to take Sarah on ahead. Apparently they ran into one of the soldiers and the man opened fire on them, but Tommy wasn't sure of the whole story. Joel wouldn't talk about what happened after they got separated. Sarah got hit by one of the bullets and didn't make it."

"That's horrible," Kevin whispered from beside her, his eyes wide as she felt sadness wash over her. That was why Joel had been so reluctant to let her travel with them; at least with Kevin he was a boy, but the way Maria described the girl, she must have reminded Joel of his daughter.

"What did Sarah look like?" Kevin asked the question that had been on her mind a few minutes ago, but she had forgotten in the wake of the story.

"I never really saw her in person considering I didn't meet Tommy until years later, but he did have a picture he got when he returned to Texas. She was just a bit younger than you two, but she had slightly wavy blonde hair, and she always refused to wear a dress," Maria's explanation made Ellie's breath leave her, and she saw Kevin go pale at the explanation.

"Are you two alright?" Maria asked, clearly worried over their sudden change of mood. Ellie nodded, trying to keep herself calm.

"Yeah, uh…" she tried to think of an excuse as Kevin stared blankly at the table, "Would we be able to find someplace to rest? We're really tired and haven't been getting much sleep in the past few days."

"Sure, of course," Maria answered as she got up from her chair, motioning towards the door they had come from, "It's just down the hall."

Ellie nodded and helped Kevin up from his chair, starting to walk towards the door. She heard something being said over the walkie-talkie in the background, but she didn't care at that moment.

"Sarah's the girl from our dreams?" Ellie asked Kevin in a whisper, making sure that Maria couldn't hear them. Kevin nodded, still pale and she was sure he was remembering something.

Maria came up to them quickly, grabbing their shoulders and tugging them back a bit towards another doorway.

"I hate to tell you this, but the rest is going to have to wait," Maria led them through another doorway that looked to lead to the basement; "We're under attack."

* * *

Joel followed his brother through a door that led into what looked to be an office. He didn't know what he felt now. At first, he felt relief that they hadn't run into any trouble, but instead had run into the person they were looking for. He knew what he was going to propose could go two ways, but he was hoping to get back to Boston as soon as he could.

_I can't get attached anymore,_ he thought, the real reason leaking through his guard as he sat down in a chair, the excuses came a moment later;_ Tommy knows the area better than I do, and I trust him more._

"What's brought you all the way out here, Joel? You usually stay in Boston," his brother had always been a straight to the point kind of guy when it came to business, which thankfully wouldn't take long.

"I've been on quite the road trip," Joel answered, feeling the exhaustion of the past few days catch up to him.

"Does it have something to do with those kids traveling with you?" his brother's question hit home, thankfully making this a lot easier, and harder, to explain.

"It's got everything to do with them," he answered, the weight of the past twenty years catching up to him. He had wanted to forget, wanted to put the past behind him, but when Tommy had showed him that picture…

It all came flooding back as he touched the watch he had received as a gift twenty years ago on his birthday. Time sure had gone fast, but the pain hadn't numbed any at all; in fact, he realized it only got worse the more he tried to forget.

"First of all, they're immune," Joel wanted to be done with this conversation soon. Some instinct was telling him that it wasn't going to end well.

"Immune to what?" Tommy asked, and then gave a disbelieving sigh at his look, "You have got to be kidding me."

"I was skeptical too, but I can prove it to you. Both of them breathe in spores without any effects, and the boy has been bitten twice," Joel guessed that the explanation was starting to become more of a plea, which was something he didn't want.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Tommy asked, making him sigh.

_Here comes the hard part,_ he thought, then dived straight into his proposition.

"I was asked to bring them to the Fireflies. I figure, you can take them the rest of the way, and you can collect the whole payment," his brother shook his head at him, making this not a good start.

"I haven't seen a Firefly in years," Tommy answered, making anger rise up in him a bit.

"But you know where they are. This isn't for my cause Tommy, this is for yours."

"My cause is my family now."

"Tommy, I need this!" he stated, feeling the pain all over again as he stared into his brother's eyes. Tommy didn't know how badly this was making him feel, but his brother also didn't know the reasons. Maybe he did, but that didn't make a difference.

"I can give you supplies to help, but I can't take them the rest of the way," Tommy answered, making him get up from the desk, ready to say something.

Any other conversation, however, was cut off by the walkie-talkie as Maria's voice came from it.

"Tommy! Where are you?" Maria's voice sounded frantic as Tommy picked up the walkie-talkie.

"In the office near the sleeping quarters," his brother answered, "What's wrong?"

"The bandits are attacking! We're trapped in the basement! We need-!" Whatever Maria was going to say next was cut off by static, which meant that the line had gone dead.

"Maria? Maria!" Tommy shouted into the dead line before strapping the walkie-talkie back onto his belt. His brother turned to him with a grave expression on his face before running out of the room.

Joel figured the only thing he could do was follow, but fear was also coursing through him. The line went dead, which could only mean one thing: Ellie and Kevin were in danger.

* * *

First of all, I am really sorry for not updating sooner! My days have been getting really busy and I try to write at nighttime but those have been filled up as well! I have had orientations and things to do for the start of school, and then my internet was seriously messed up (we had to call the internet guy to come check it out)! Also, I haven't been feeling one-hundred percent the past few days, so that hasn't helped much either. I promised you guys a Joel POV and here it is (well, a portion of it). I tried to differentiate from the game a bit (considering that there is both Kevin and Ellie), but I wanted to keep it similar enough as well. Next chapter is when all the secrets come out! Please tell me what you think will happen as well as any thoughts in a review!

-AnimeWolfGirl9


	17. Misdirection

**Guest:** I have some very interesting twists planned for those! :)

**K (Guest):** Glad to know you are enjoying it!

**Kuntakintae:** Thank you so much! :)

**rangers123:** I wanted to bring that into the story since we didn't get to see that in the game, but wasn't quite sure how to explain it. Ellie only mentioned it to Joel in the ranch scene, and nothing else was said about it. Glad to know that I didn't mess it up! :)

**AnimeWolfGirl16:** Yeah there is an explanation for that, it just won't be revealed for a while. Don't want to spoil anything.

**Someone (Guest):** Here's the next chapter! (Explanation in below author's note)

* * *

Chapter 17: Misdirection

"There's so many of them!" Ellie shouted over to Kevin as another bandit got a bullet from her pistol. When Maria had said they were being attacked, Ellie hadn't known what to expect, but this was almost ridiculous!

"I know!" Kevin shouted back, taking aim at the bandit's further away with his hunting rifle.

It was good to know that they weren't alone in this fight. Some of the dam workers had joined in protecting this section where they had holed up, so they had some help.

Gunfire and shouts filled the air as more of the bandits were taken down. After a while, it was just Ellie, Kevin, and Maria left. The bandits had been pushed back to a further part of the dam, and the other workers had gone to pursue them.

"We can help," Ellie half-pleaded with Maria, but the older woman shook her head.

"We need to stay here in case they come back. The others have it handled out there," Maria set down the law, whether anyone liked it or not.

Ellie resigned to sitting in a corner, feeling a bit worn out. Kevin joined her soon after, but both were still alert. The bandits could come back at any moment, and they had to be ready for them.

She checked the ammo in her pistol, seeing that she hadn't used many bullets.

_I must be improving,_ the thought made a small smile come onto her face at her success. Kevin saw this but didn't ask.

"Do you think Joel's ok?" she looked over at Kevin when she asked this, feeling somewhat worried now that they were separated.

"Yeah, he's fine," Kevin answered with a reassuring nod, "He can take care of himself. He's been doing so for… how long?"

She gave a laugh at his attempt to cheer her up, grateful now that they had each other.

_And Joel too,_ she thought, realizing that none of this would have happened if Joel wouldn't have let her come along with them.

A single gunshot interrupted her thoughts, making her alert as the room grew quiet again. The gunshot had come from the outside of the room, and she was aware of her heart as it beat with nervousness.

_I thought the others had it under control;_ she stole a glance at Maria, wondering if the older woman could have been wrong.

The sun shone brightly into the room, making it harder to see outside, which their enemy would most likely use as an advantage. Her pistol was pointed in the direction of the door. The least she could do was fire and hope that she hit something.

Shadows came into view, making two outlines against the doorway. She couldn't see very well, but stopped aiming in surprise when Maria's gun went down and she started half-running half-jogging towards the shadows.

"Tommy," Maria called with a smile and a wave to her husband, which made Ellie and Kevin look over at the other shadow.

_Joel's with him;_ the thought made her smile as well as the two teens followed Maria to the door, seeing that the bandits were nowhere in sight.

"Joel, you should have seen it! There were so many of them!" Ellie started letting everything fly out of her mouth in an excited craze when she got over to Joel.

"I helped too!" Kevin piped in somewhere in her excited burst, making Joel give them an amused look.

"One at a time," he ordered, slowing them down before continuing, "Are either of you hurt."

Ellie and Kevin both glanced over at each other, checking to see if they got hit by anything.

"No," they both answered at the same time, causing the three of them to laugh at what was becoming a habit.

"We need to talk," Tommy's voice cut into their conversation, making Ellie's gaze wander over towards where Tommy was leading Maria out the door.

Joel followed them, and Ellie gave Kevin a high five before he walked out the door as well. She turned to follow, but felt her strength leave her for a few moments.

She leaned against the wall, making sure she wasn't going to faint.

_It's like back at the safe house. What's wrong with me?_ She wondered, and then shook her head; _it must just be that I'm tired. We haven't gotten a lot of sleep over the past few days._

She walked out the door, seeing Maria and Tommy arguing over in a corner of the yard while Joel was standing a few feet away. She saw Kevin walking towards him and decided to follow, feeling curiosity fill her.

"What's that all about?" Kevin asked before she got the chance, making her stop a few feet away from them.

"We'll talk about it later," Joel answered, not meeting their gaze as the argument continued.

"But-" Kevin started to protest, and Joel stood up, interrupting him with a stern gaze.

"We'll talk about it later," the older man repeated, and then looked behind Kevin to see her standing there as well.

Some surprise registered in Joel's eyes, and then it disappeared. Kevin mumbled something and then turned around, marching past her.

Normally she wouldn't have understood why her friend was acting like this, but she had seen it too. Something in Joel's eyes had made him seem almost distant; cold even to the point that she seemed slightly angered at it as well.

There had been something hidden in Joel's gaze that made her follow after her friend; something that he couldn't hide from them. He didn't want them around, end of story.

Ellie followed Kevin through the dam, figuring they were going to walk their frustration away. That normally worked, but she was surprised when she saw him head towards the horse stable.

"What are you doing?" she asked, not caring how worry and confusion entered her voice when he walked over to one of the saddled horses.

Kevin got on the horse and looked down at her with a frown, making her clearly see the pain in his expression.

"I can't stay here," he whispered, glancing away from her, "He's wanted to get rid of me the whole time. I tried to tell myself otherwise, but…"

"Can I come with you then?" she asked, knowing what he was feeling. She didn't think it would be such a good idea to let him run off alone; at least if the two of them went then they could have an idea of finding the way back and defending each other if the time came.

_Joel can take care of himself,_ she decided as Kevin extended his hand to help her into the saddle behind him. Normally she would have protested and said that she could do it herself, but she had been feeling so out-of-sorts lately that she didn't want to take a chance.

"I saw it too," she whispered, although it wasn't like she didn't know it all along; Joel had been hesitant to let her come along in the first place, so she shouldn't have felt so surprised.

They rode the horse out of the stable when no one was looking, and Ellie was surprised to see that the gate to the dam was open.

"Someone is forgetting their job," she mumbled as they rode through the open gate. She felt a bit surprised that there were no guards, but she figured that everyone might have still been in disarray from the bandit attack.

"Works to our advantage though," Kevin answered, and she felt somewhat worried.

_Is something else wrong?_ She wondered as she stared at her friend; _he's not acting normal. Or is this how he secretly is and we've just never known?_

She knew she didn't have much time to think about it; they were now heading out into the unknown for who-knows-how-long, not quite prepared to face the challenges ahead.

* * *

I apologize that this was late. It was supposed to be longer, but I figured that I would get this out since you guys have been waiting so patiently for it. I have not been feeling well at all, and have at least had two days where I could do nothing but sleep on the couch. I have no idea if I caught a bug or something, but I was finally able to finish this. I'm not 100% back to normal, but I'm getting there (which is a huge step considering how I have been feeling). My other reason for this being late: school (I think that one word about sums it up). Also, I am sorry if this seemed a bit rushed. Once again, I am not feeling well and didn't really know how to fill the time between the "battle" and when Joel and Tommy reunite with them. Sorry once again for making you wait and I will try and get the next chapter out as quick as I can. Please leave your comments or ideas in a review!

-AnimeWolfGirl9


	18. It All Comes Out

**Schwan:** Welcome! I am glad to see that you are enjoying this! And to answer your question, yes, we will be seeing Winter events coming up (with a few twists).

**MoonlitxAngel: **Eli is a good choice; I only used Kevin because that was what he would be named if Naughty Dog would have replaced Ellie.

**rangers123:** Thanks, and there will definitely be more of those coming up too!

**Guest:** :)

**Jogman74:** It's alright; I can understand how most people could think that :) Also, I'm hoping to run this fanfiction until the end of the game, maybe a bit beyond that; I'm not entirely sure yet. Anything can happen. You are getting closer in an idea for the ending, but it's not completely correct. Close though!

**Killerbee77:** Yes you are correct. Sorry I am not very good at descriptions! I am hoping to draw out a rough sketch of Kevin at some point and hopefully find a way to let you all see what I imagine him to look like, but so far I am having some trouble. Thanks for the review!

**AnimeWolfGirl16:** Ah, the great trip back to the Hoover Dam… :) I never actually thought about that before reading your review though!

**Madalyn1000:** Thank you! :)

* * *

Chapter 18: It All Comes Out

Ellie looked around the forest-like area they were now currently riding in, finding it somewhat unfamiliar. She thought about asking Kevin if they should turn back, especially since it would be getting dark soon, but by the way he was silent she figured that he wasn't thinking of heading back to the dam anytime soon.

_Joel is going to be worried,_ she thought, but then dismissed it just as quickly. Why should they care? He obviously didn't want them around.

"Do you have any idea where we are going?" she asked instead, hoping that she could bring his mind back around through a less obvious manner.

"Somewhat," he mumbled and then continued when she gave him a confused look, "The dreams. They haven't stopped."

"Oh," she let it slip, remembering back to the dream Kevin had in the car ride to Pittsburgh, "and you saw this place this time?"

"Yeah, at least I think so," his answer somewhat reassured her, "There should be a house somewhere around here."

He left off again, leaving her in silence. She wondered if Joel would even come looking for them at all. Maybe he didn't care so much about them, but some distant memory was starting to make her think otherwise.

_Back on the first trip, he didn't abandon me,_ that gave her some hope; not much, but still some.

She couldn't recall the exact memory; it was all just hazy now, but she remembered feeling safe. There had been some fear in it, but the safe feeling had overrun everything when Joel had come into her vision…

The leaves rustled nearby, making her freeze slightly. She poked Kevin's shoulder and he nodded, signaling that he had heard it. His gaze penetrated the bushes around them as he continued the horse forward, acting if they hadn't noticed the rustling.

More noises that sounded like footsteps followed them, making her hand hover near her pocket where her switchblade was. She briefly wondered if Joel was the one who was following them, making sure they didn't get hurt, but she highly doubted it; Joel didn't make this much noise.

They continued on in tense silence, Ellie still aware of the fact that whatever was following them hadn't given up. She figured it couldn't be Clickers; they usually came running at any noise they heard, so they would have been attacked by now.

Her train of thought was interrupted so suddenly that she nearly fell off the horse when something jumped in front of them, causing the spooked horse to whinny in protest and back up.

Someone was blocking their path; someone that she didn't recognize. More of them appeared, blocking off their route of where they were headed. The answer clicked in her head: these people were like the hunters from Pittsburgh, but she wasn't sure what to call them.

She briefly remembered that Maria had said something about bandits, so that was the better answer. She got a mental image before Kevin quickly turned the horse off-route, making them run through the forest blindly with the bandits chasing after them.

_This is almost like something from one of those old romance novels;_ she thought but then stopped it quickly, realizing how weird the idea was.

"I think we lost them," Kevin slowed the horse down after a while of galloping, and now they had come to what looked like an abandoned house.

"A ranch?" she questioned and he nodded, guiding the horse up towards the porch and tying it there.

She glanced behind them at the forest, listening for anything that could sound like the bandit group, but she didn't hear anything. At least if the bandits did find them, they would have better cover inside the house.

Ellie followed Kevin through the door, looking around in awe at the old house. Aside from a few broken windows and 'stolen' objects, this house was nearly untouched by the chaos outside.

Kevin's footsteps marching up the stairs drew her attention back to the present, and she watched for a moment as he disappeared upstairs. After thinking for a moment, she decided that being in a group would be better than being alone, especially if they did get attacked, and followed him upstairs.

A door was cracked at the end of the hallway, making her head towards it and open it cautiously. Kevin was sitting on a ledge seat near a window of the room, staring out at the scenery below them.

"Hey," she gave a small wave as he looked at her, closing the door a bit before walking towards him, "You ok?"

Her friend didn't answer, prompting her to let out a breath as she sat down on the bed in the room. The room looked like it had belonged to a teenage girl back before the pandemic; the colors of the room looking too red/pink to be a boy's room.

"What do you think we should do now?" she asked, trying to change the subject. Maybe if Kevin wouldn't talk about his 'problems', they could instead talk about their current predicament.

"I don't know," Kevin shook his head, letting out a sigh, "Joel doesn't want us around; he never has. I tried to tell myself otherwise, but now I feel as if everything's gone wrong."

"I know what you mean," she didn't know what else to say, so they fell into silence for a few minutes.

"We could just run away," Kevin suggested suddenly, breaking the silence between them. She shook her head, not sure how to explain what she was feeling about the outcome of this without giving away too much.

"That wouldn't get us anywhere. The Infected or other survivors could quickly get us," she argued instead, figuring they should just stay here. Kevin looked like he was about to argue, but then he remained silent and looked out the window again.

Her mind wandered as she tried to think of what to say to him.

_Maybe I should just tell him everything…_ the thought trailed off as the consequences and benefits ran through her mind. Weighing them against what was going to come, she took a deep breath.

"I don't really know how to say this, but…" she trailed off when he looked at her, making her uncomfortable.

"What?" he asked, a curious expression on his face. Another deep breath followed.

_It's now or never._

"I don't really know how this all started, but I don't think that we were supposed to meet. I was the one on this journey with Joel; that's why I was headed to the Fireflies. Something happened…" she trailed off, not knowing how to explain it when she didn't understand it herself, "I had a friend back in the quarantine zone. Her name was Riley, and she said-"

"Riley?" a look of confusion and shock came onto Kevin's face, and for a moment she didn't care that he had interrupted her, "from back in Boston?"

"Yeah," she then went on to describe her friend as she remembered her, with Kevin's expression becoming more and more shocked.

"Riley is my friend too, but she… we kind of…" Kevin motioned to his arm, and she came to a conclusion.

"When you said you used to sneak out of the boarding school, you did it with Riley too…"

A moment of silence followed, with Ellie feeling as if her head was just hit with a train.

_Way too much to process,_ she thought as she stared at the floor, _Well, that definitely confirms one thing…_

"Kevin, I don't think I'm from your… what do you want to call it? Dimension? Time?" she continued when he shrugged, "I'm not sure if this is real or if it is a dream. I can't tell. Everything seems so real but…"

"So, we might not exist, is what you're saying," he finished the sentence for her and she nodded, not meeting his gaze. He was being surprisingly calm about all of this.

"Riley said I have to fix the problem, but I'm starting to think that she didn't word it correctly. The problem could be considered you, since you weren't in the original journey… at least I don't think you were," her memory was still hazy now, making things even harder to explain, "I don't think there is so much of a problem, but instead something else maybe?"

"It's your guess; I've got nothing," Kevin let out a sigh as he leaned back on the window seat, "To be honest, I guess I'm not really that surprised."

"Why not?" she asked, "I know I would if I heard something crazy like this."

"I guess I kind of just knew all along. You just came out of nowhere, with the same problems and practically same life as me. I guess it makes sense now. Henry actually thought we were siblings…" Kevin trailed off when he brought up what had happened in Pittsburgh, "so I guess I'm your counterpart or something."

"That girl in our dreams… Joel's daughter… the mirror makes sense now," Ellie mumbled while thinking back to her dream.

She stood up from the bed, walking over towards her friend.

"What should we do now? I know we had plans to go to the Fireflies, but…"

"We should do just that," Kevin interrupted, giving her a serious look, "we'll make it to the Fireflies, save the world, and then figure out how to get you 'home'."

She gave a smile at their new 'plan'. She didn't really know how they were going to tell Joel, or even if they would at all, but she had a feeling things would work out.

The door opened suddenly behind them, and she turned around, glancing at Joel before going to sit beside her friend.

_This isn't going to end well…_

* * *

I split this chapter in half because you guys have been so patient. I'm really sorry for taking so long! Between getting better, working, and school I haven't had any time to write. Next chapter will be out sooner, and will include 'the fight' as well as heading back. Will Joel change his mind about letting Tommy take them to the Fireflies, or will he just head back to Boston? And how in the world are Ellie and Kevin going to explain to Joel if he did hear their conversation? Thank you for being so patient and please tell me what you thought in a review!

-AnimeWolfGirl9


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